Kőnig's activities and lectures played a vital role in the growth of graph theoretical work of: László Egyed, Paul Erdős, Tibor Gallai, György Hajós, József Kraus, Tibor Szele, Pál Turán, Endre Vázsonyi, and many others. He went on to write the first book on graph theory Theorie der endlichen und unendlichen Graphen in 1936. This marked the beginning of graph theory as its own branch of mathematics. Then in 1958, Claude Berge wrote the second book on graph theory, Théorie des Graphes et ses applications, following Kőnig. After the occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany, he worked to help persecuted mathematicians. On October 15, 1944 the National Socialist Arrow Cross Party took over the country. Days later on October 19, 1944 he committed suicide to evade persecution from the Nazis for being a Hungarian Jew. Accomplishments 1899 – Matematikai és Fizikai Lapok written while attending High School 1902 – First place in "Eötvös Loránd" 1907 – received his Doctorate Degree 1910 – promoted to "oberassistant" 1911 – promoted to "Privatdocent" in 1911 teaching nomography, analysis situs (later to be known as topology), set theory, real numbers and functions, and graph theory 1935 – gained full professorship at Technische Hochschule 1936 – he wrote the first book on graph theory, Theorie der endlichen und unendlichen Graphen Dénes König Prize The Dénes König Prize is a prize established and given by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Activity Group on Discrete Mathematics to an early career researcher for outstanding research in an area of discrete mathematics. The first award was given in 2008, and it had been given biennially thereafter. Past award recipients Bibliography . Translated from German by Richard McCoart, Theory of finite and infinite graphs, Birkhäuser, 1990, . See also Kőnig's theorem (graph theory) Kőnig's theorem (set theory) is due to Dénes' father, Gyula Kőnig. Kőnig's lemma Labyrinth problem Notes External links a Hungarian biography site Dénes König Prize 1884 births 1944 suicides Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery Jewish scientists 20th-century Hungarian mathematicians Graph theorists Suicides by jumping in Hungary Austro-Hungarian mathematicians Mathematics awards Suicides by Jews during the Holocaust Hungarian Jews who died in the Holocaust