Graph Theory with Applications, the 1976 textbook co-authored with John Adrian Bondy, established a foundational reference for students and practitioners of discrete mathematics. This work represents a significant portion of the academic output of U. S. R. Murty, a mathematician who spent much of his professional life contributing to research in matroid theory and graph theory within Canadian academic circles.
Academic Foundation
Born in 1940, Uppaluri Siva Ramachandra Murty pursued his advanced mathematical education at the Indian Statistical Institute in Calcutta. He completed his Ph.D. in 1967, focusing his dissertation on the complexities of extremal graph theory. His doctoral studies were conducted under the supervision of C. R. Rao, providing the rigorous methodological training that characterized his subsequent research career.
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Murty moved to Canada, where he held a long-standing position as a professor in the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization at the University of Waterloo. His work during this tenure spanned decades, during which he focused on the structural properties of graphs and matroids. His contributions extended beyond individual research to the stewardship of the field as a managing editor and co-editor-in-chief for the Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B.
Selected Research Contributions
His research portfolio includes notable publications such as the 1968 paper On some extremal graphs and the 1970 study Matroids with Sylvester property. In 1971, he addressed combinatorial questions with How Many Magic Configurations are There? and published his work on Equicardinal matroids. Later in his career, he collaborated on investigations into graph structures, including co-authoring the 2002 paper regarding bricks of finite characteristic with Marcelo H. de Carvalho and Cláudio L. Lucchesi.
Fast facts
- Born: 1940
- Died: 13 May 2025, Toronto, Ontario
- Ph.D. Advisor: C. R. Rao
- Primary Institution: University of Waterloo
- Key Textbook: Graph Theory with Applications (1976)
- Religion: Hinduism
Questions readers ask
What was U. S. R. Murty's main field of study?
He specialized in graph theory and matroid theory.
Where did he earn his doctoral degree?
He earned his Ph.D. from the Indian Statistical Institute in Calcutta in 1967.
Achievements
- Held posts at University of Waterloo
- Fields: graph theory
