William Tutte (1917-2002) studied at Cambridge where his fascination for mathematical puzzles brought him into contact with like-minded undergraduates, together becoming known as the 'Trinity four', the founders of modern graph theory. His notable problem-solving skills meant he was brought to Bletchley Park during World War Two. Key in the enemy codebreaking efforts, he cracked the Lorenz cipher for which the Colossus machine was built, making his contribution comparable to Alan Turing's codebreaking for Enigma. Following his incredible war effort Tutte returned to academia and became a fellow of the Royal Society in Britain and Canada, finishing his career as Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo, Ontario.
`Review from previous edition [T]he present book . . . is not a comprehensive treatise on graph theory but is restricted to those parts of the subject which Tutte himself researched, telling how he was led to his theorems and their proofs. . . For those of us who find much research-level mathematical literature heavy going, it is good to have this readable account of how some of the ideas developed. ' Mathematical Reviews `For over sixty years, Bill Tutte has worked in Graph Theory and he can truly be called the father of the subject...This fascinating book...reveals how he was led to many of the theorems and proofs for which he is famous.' Ralph Stanton, Canadian Mathematical Society book reviews