The John Koch Faculty Papers, 1974-2013
Collection
Identifier: 03-41-002
Scope and Content
The John Koch Papers collection consists of publications, punch cards, code, program output, and personal notes. The publications consist of his thesis, his published solutions to the problem, publications about his solutions, and publications that were used in the problem-solving process. The punch cards consist of Koch’s programs used to solve the conjecture. The code is the print out of the code represented in the punch cards. The output contains all of the program tests Koch used in the solving process. Personal notes contain the notes written by Koch during his work.
Dates
- Majority of material found within 1974-2013, 1974-1976
Access:
Open for Research.
Condition:
The materials are in good condition.
Biographical Sketch:
John Allen Koch was born on October 31, 1948 in Urbana, Illinois. Koch attended Bucknell University for his undergraduate education, graduating in May of 1970 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. After Bucknell, Koch studied at the University of Illinois, receiving his Master of Science in Computer Science in May of 1972. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science at the University of Illinois in May 1976. His thesis work contributed to the solution of the century-old Four-Color Theorem. He was hired at Wilkes College in September 1976 and has remained a Computer Science professor at the institution for 43 years. Dr. Koch and Dr. Joe Parker are responsible for the development of the Computer Science degree at Wilkes University. He has taught numerous classes on a multitude of computational subjects and during his tenure, promoted the use of the internet at Wilkes University. In addition to his teaching at Wilkes, John Koch worked for the Institute for Defense Analyses at Princeton, New Jersey, and he retired, in 1998, as a Lieutenant Colonel of the Army National Guard. In his free time, Koch enjoys bicycling and spending time with his family. He is a happy husband and proud father of two sons, and he is a grandfather of five grandchildren.
Extent
12 boxes (5 document boxes, 6 punchcard boxes, 1 oversized box) ; 14.15 linear feet
Acquisition:
John Koch donated his collection to Wilkes University Archives in June 2019.
Provenance:
John Koch completed these mathematical proofs at the University of Illinois during his graduate school in 1976, and they were transferred to Wilkes University and have stayed in John Koch’s closet until Summer 2019 when they were transferred to the Wilkes University Archives
Copyright Status:
Anyone can read or obtain copies of any of the material for research purposes, but if the researcher wants to quote from the materials, they will need obtain copyright permission.
Processed By:
TQ Smith, Archives Intern, Fall-Spring 2019-2020. Supervised by Suzanna Calev, Archivist.
Series Description:
The John Koch Papers are arranged in three series: Publications, Code, and Output. Each series is organized into folders by relevant content to make it easier to find specific materials.
Series I: Publications, 1974-2013
The Publications, 1974-2013, series (Box 1, 2, and 5) is arranged in original order by John Koch. Box 1 contains copies of Koch’s thesis proposal, thesis, and lecture notes. Box 2 holds lecture notes and publications about the Four-Color Conjecture. Box 5 contains other published work on the conjecture.
Series II: Code, 1974-1976
The Code, 1974-1976, series (Box 4, 6-13) is arranged by program. Box 4 contains some code printed out. Box 6 to Box 11 contain the punch cards of the main programs used in proving the conjecture. The programs include the main program, the RGDDN program, and the REDCR program. Box 13 contains other code.Box 13 contains additional code as well as a microfilm reel of code.
Series III: Output, 1975-1976
The Output series (Box 3-4) is arranged by year and configuration number. The programs were run on different graph configuration. The two boxes contain the output to these test cases.
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu