www.btoft.dk

SHORT CV Bjarne Toft (in Danish)

Bjarne Toft er født i Thisted i 1945; cand. scient. fra Aarhus Universitet 1968; ph.d. fra University of London 1970; lektor ved Odense/Syddansk Universitet 1974-2015, afbrudt af ophold i Canada, USA og England. Forfatter til videnskabelige artikler og medforfatter til bøger, bl.a. Graph Coloring Problems (Wiley 1995), Graph Edge Coloring (Wiley 2012), Piet Hein Verdensdanskeren (Gyldendal 2015), Hex The Full Story (Taylor & Francis 2019) og Brooks' Theorem (Springer 2024).

Foredragsholder, f.eks. på Det Kongelige Bibliotek (om det moderne gennembrud og naturvidenskab), i Alliance Francaise (om den franske forfattergruppe OULIPO), i skoleklasser (om spil og om nonsens og matematk), til et arrangement for langtids-indsatte i Nyborg Statsfængsel (om spil og lotto) og til et foredrag på Aarhus Teater for lærere (om Alice i Eventyrland).

Faglige interesser: Diskret matematik, spilteori, matematik historie, datalogi historie, matematik og litteratur.

LONG CV Bjarne Toft (in English)

Born 30.04.1945 in Thisted, Denmark.
Married 1975 to Bente Østergaard Toft (high school teacher in social science and German, now retired).

Children: Tomas 1977 (Cand. scient. from Aarhus University 2003, research stay at Yale University, Ph.d. in computer science from Aarhus University, then The Danish Bank, and now with Sepior by Blockdeamon). Peter 1985 (MA in English and Media Science – stay in San Diego as part of his final masters project, now high school teacher in Ringe, Denmark).

Associate professor (lektor) at Odense University (now the University of Southern Denmark SDU) since January 1974.  Emeritus from September 2015.

EDUCATION
High school diploma 1963.
M.Sc. in mathematics and physics, Aarhus University 1968 (thesis in graph theory with G.A. Dirac as supervisor). Stipend from Aarhus University 1968-1970. Research stays at the University of Wales (1968), the Hungarian Academy of Science (1969) and at Birkbeck College, University of London (1969 and 1970).
Ph.D. University of London 1970 (supervisors H. Dowker and G.A. Dirac, external examiner C.A.B. Smith).
Assistant professor, Aarhus University 1970-1973. Postdoc, University of Waterloo, Canada, 1973.

RESEARCH
Guest professor, University of Regina, Canada, 1985 (6 months) and 1993-1994 (12 months).
Guest professor, Vanderbilt University, USA, 1986 (6 months) and 2001 (6 months).
Guest researcher, London School of Economics, England, 2011 (4 months).
Visiting scholar, Human Sciences and Technology Advanced Researh Institute, Stanford University, USA, 2013 (3 months).

Author of around 75 papers (Studia Sci. Math. Hungar., J.Reine und Angew. Math., Monatshefte für Mathematik, Mathematische Annalen, Journal Comb. Theory B, Combinatorica, Discrete Math., Journal of Graph Theory, Ars Combinatoria). Co-author with Tommy Jensen of the book Graph Coloring Problems (Wiley 1995). Co-author with Stiebitz, Scheide, Favrholdt of the book Graph Edge Coloring (Wiley 2012). Second author with Ryan B. Hayward: HEX - the full story (CRC Press 2019).  Co-author with Stiebitz, Schweser of Brooks' Theorem (Springer Monograph in Mathematics 2024). Editor and co-editor of conference proceedings.

Conference lectures (Canada, England, France, Russia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, USA, Japan, Spain, Finland, China, Slovakia, Malta). Conference lectures in 2008-2023: AMS and MAA Joint Meeting, San Diego, January 2008; Cumberland Meeting, Nashville, May 2008; RIMS Winter School on Graphs and Algorithms, Kyoto, Japan, December 2008), Pretty Structures, Paris, April 2009, Algebraic Graph Theory, Dubrovnik, June 2009, Bordeaux Graph Workshop, Nov. 2011, Cycles in Graphs, Nashville, May 2012. In the summer of 2013 three invited talks at conferences (Budapest, Kosice, Tokyo). ESU7 Copenhagen July 2014, One-day meeting in Paris for Adrian Bondy, November 2014, Talks and session organizer at the centenary for DMV 2015 in Hamburg and the centenary for the Mittag-Leffler Institute in Stockholm (27. Nordic Congress, March 2016), Scandinavian Combinatorial Congress in Levi, Finland, June 2016, Cycles and Colourings, Slovakia September 2016, International Conference at Zhejiang Normal University, China, October 2016, Boardgame Conference in Copenhagen, May 2017, Second Malta Conference in Graph Theory and Combinatorics, June 2017, AMS meeting at Vanderbilt University, April 2018,  Board Game Colloquium XXII (Bologna, May 2019), CID Colourings, Independence and Domination 2019 (Poland, September 2019), 29th Nordic Congress of Mathematicians (Denmark, June 2023).

Member of (a few) evaluation committees (Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Canada). Organizer/co-organizer of international meetings in Denmark, in particular Graph Theory in Memory of G.A. Dirac (Sandbjerg 1985), The Julius Petersen Conference (Hindsgavl 1990), Graph Theory Days at Dalum (1999), Graph Theory at Nyborg Strand (2000), Graph Theory 2002, Graph Theory 2003, Graph Theory 2005, Graph Theory 2008 at Sandbjerg Manor in honour of Carsten Thomassen, Graph Theory 2009, Graph Theory Workshop Denmark Germany Japan, Sept. 2009, Graph Theory 2011, Graph Theory 2012, Graph Theory 2015, Graph Theory 2018 and of NORCOM2019 (Copenhagen, August 2019).


ADMINISTRATION, TEACHING, POPULARIZATION
Member of a variety of administrative bodies, among them the mathematics library committee, chairman of the committee for the joint degree in mathematics and economy at SDU (1985-2015) and the governing board of the Danish Mathematical Society (2008-2016).
President of the Danish Mathematical Society (2013-2016). President of Naturvidenskabeligt Selskab på Fyn  (2003-2015). Member of Folkeuniversitetets Programudvalg (1988-2004).
Teacher of a variety of university mathematics courses, ranging from first year calculus to specialized courses, thesis advisor for more than 40 M.Sc.-students and for 3 Ph.D. students.

Popular lectures in a variety of connections, from a Royal Library lecture at the Golden Days in Copenhagen Festival (on natural science and the “modern breakthrough” in Denmark), a lecture in Alliance Francaise (on the group OULIPO), to a lecture for long term inmates at Nyborg State Prison (on lotto). Several lectures for Ungdommens Naturvidenskabelige Forening and in schools.

Lecture at Aarhus Theater for teachers 2022. Typical topics: the history of mathematics, optimization, mathematics and games, mathematics and economy, nonsense (Alice in Wonderland, etc.).

Author of the book Algoritmisk Kombinatorik – et datalogisk orienteret emne i matematik (Dansk Matematisk Forening 1985). Co-autor of the book PIET HEIN VERDENSDANSKEREN (Gyldendal 2015). Organizer of a common educational day for mathematics teachers from all levels in Fåborg-Midtfyn Kommune (februar 2019). Organizer of yearly public meetings Gathering4Gardner 2014-2017. Curator of a collection of vintage computers at SDU.