Mehdi Behzad

Mehdi Behzad (Persian:مهدی بهزاد; born April 22, 1936) is an Iranian mathematician specializing in graph theory. He introduced his total coloring theory (also known as "Behzad's conjecture" or "the total chromatic number conjecture") during his Ph.D. studies in 1965. Despite the active work during the last 50 years this conjecture remains as challenging as it is open. In fact, Behzad's conjecture now belongs to mathematics’ classic open problems.

Behzad has been instrumental in institutionalizing mathematics education and popularization of mathematics in Iran, and has received numerous awards and recognition for his lifetime service to the Iranian scientific community. Provided by Wikipedia