George Szekeres

George Szekeres (; 29 May 1911 – 28 August 2005), born Szekeres György, was a Hungarian–Australian mathematician. After migrating to Australia after World War II, he worked first for the University of Adelaide, and then the University of New South Wales. He is known for his co-authoring a paper with fellow Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős known as the "Happy Ending problem", and married mathematician Esther Klein.

Early years and education Szekeres György was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 29 May 1911.

He received his degree in chemistry at the Royal Joseph University (later Technical University of Budapest). Subsequently, George and Paul wrote a paper (1935) that generalises this result; it is regarded as one of the foundational works in the field of combinatorial geometry. Erdős dubbed the original problem the "Happy Ending" problem because it resulted in the marriage of George and Esther. and the family (with their son, born in China), moving to Adelaide, South Australia, in June 1948. Esther also taught at the university. 2001: Establishment of the George Szekeres Medal by the Australian Mathematical Society 2002: Member of the Order of Australia (AM), "for service to mathematics and science, particularly as a contributor to education and research, to the support and development of the University of New South Wales Mathematics Competition and the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Team"

Personal life Szkeres married Esther Klein on 13 June 1937. After moving to Sydney, they bought a house in Turramurra, which they had obtained at a low price owing to it having belonged to a person who had died in suspicious circumstances in the Bogle–Chandler case.

In fiction The Svéds' granddaughter, author Miriam Sved, wrote the historical novel A Universe of Sufficient Size, published in 2019. It tells the story of a group of Jewish mathematicians in Hungary who flee the country, which she based on stories she had heard from Márta Svéd. While the story is fictional, several characters are loosely based on people in Svéd's circle, in particular Esther and George Szekeres, as well as Paul Erdős.

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