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Robert Tarjan
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Robert Tarjan

Computer scientist who designed many of the fundamental graph algorithms and data structures

30 April 1948 United States Verified by our editors
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Age
78 yrs
Birthday in 175 days
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Robert Tarjan is an American computer scientist known for elegant algorithms and data structures, including Tarjan’s strongly connected components algorithm, splay trees and Fibonacci heaps. He shared the 1986 Turing Award with John Hopcroft and is a professor at Princeton.

Biography

Education

Tarjan studied mathematics at Caltech and earned his PhD at Stanford in 1972 under Robert Floyd and Donald Knuth.

Graph algorithms

Using depth-first search, Tarjan found fast algorithms for problems such as finding strongly connected components and testing planarity. These run in time proportional to the size of the graph and are taught in algorithms courses worldwide.

Data structures

With Daniel Sleator he invented splay trees and link-cut trees, and with Michael Fredman the Fibonacci heap, which speeds up Dijkstra’s algorithm. He also analysed the union–find data structure, showing a surprising link to the inverse Ackermann function.

Industry and academia

Tarjan has been a professor at Princeton since 1985 and has worked for companies including NEC, InterTrust, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. He received the first Nevanlinna Prize in 1982.

Timeline

  1. 1948

    Born in Pomona, California, United States

  2. 1972

    PhD from Stanford

  3. 1972

    Strongly connected components algorithm

  4. 1982

    First Nevanlinna Prize

  5. 1984

    Fibonacci heaps with Michael Fredman

  6. 1985

    Splay trees published; joins Princeton

  7. 1986

    Turing Award

Notable works

  • 1972

    Depth-First Search and Linear Graph Algorithms Paper

  • 1985

    Self-Adjusting Binary Search Trees Paper

    With Daniel Sleator.

Awards and honours

  • Nevanlinna Prize

    1982

  • Turing Award

    1986

  • Paris Kanellakis Award

    1999

Did you know?

  1. 1

    The Nevanlinna Prize is now called the IMU Abacus Medal.

  2. 2

    Several algorithms bear his name.

  3. 3

    He was a student of both Robert Floyd and Donald Knuth.

Connections

Related people

Also born on 30 April

Frequently asked

Who is Robert Tarjan?

Robert Tarjan is an American computer scientist known for elegant algorithms and data structures, including Tarjan’s strongly connected components algorithm, splay trees and Fibonacci heaps. He shared the 1986 Turing Award with John Hopcroft and is a professor at Princeton.

How old is Robert Tarjan?

Robert Tarjan is 78 years old, born on 30 April 1948 in Pomona, California, United States.

Where is Robert Tarjan from?

Robert Tarjan was born in Pomona, California, United States.

What is Robert Tarjan known for?

Robert Tarjan is best known for Graph algorithms; splay trees; Fibonacci heaps; union–find analysis; Turing Award 1986.

What awards has Robert Tarjan received?

Notable honours include Nevanlinna Prize (1982), Turing Award (1986), Paris Kanellakis Award (1999).

References

  1. Robert Tarjan — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  2. Robert Tarjan — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  3. Robert Tarjan (Q92638) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.

Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Robert Tarjan”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more

External links

Wikipedia
Filed under AlgorithmsPrinceton UniversityTuring Award Computer ScientistProfessor

About this profile

Cite this page

“Robert Tarjan.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/robert-tarjan

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