World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Computer Science
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Computer Science

D-Index
122
Citations
95082
World Ranking
136
National Ranking
80

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Computer Science in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Computer Science in United States Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Computer Science in United States Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Computer Science in United States Leader Award
  • 2009 - SIAM Fellow For the design and analysis of algorithms.
  • 2003 - Member of the European Academy of Sciences
  • 1999 - ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award Splay Tree Data Structure
  • 1994 - ACM Fellow For fundamental achievements in the design and analysis of algorithms and data structures.
  • 1990 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 1988 - Member of the National Academy of Engineering For fundamental achievements in the design and analysis of data structures and computer algorithms.
  • 1987 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 1986 - A. M. Turing Award For fundamental achievements in the design and analysis of algorithms and data structures.
  • 1985 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 1982 - Rolf Nevanlinna Prize "Received the first Nevanlinna Prize for outstanding contributions to mathematical aspects of information science. "Pure mathematics enjoys the luxury of studying its constructions, whether finite or infinite, in complete independence of all questions of efficiency." explained Jacob Schwartz, who spoke on Tarjan's work. "By contrast, theoretical computer science must ultimately concern itself with computing engines which operate with limited speed and data storage, and therefore must take efficiency as one of its central concerns. Two closely related activities, algorithm design and algorithm analysis, grow out of this inevitable concern."[8]
  • 1978 - Fellow of John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

Overview

Robert E. Tarjan is affiliated with Princeton University in the United States and conducts research primarily in the field of Computer Science. Their work spans various subfields including Artificial Intelligence, Computer Networks and Communications, Computational Theory and Mathematics, Hardware and Architecture, and Software.

The scientist's research topics cover several domains such as Algorithms and Data Compression, Complexity and Algorithms in Graphs, Network Packet Processing and Optimization, Optimization and Search Problems, Software Testing and Debugging Techniques, Distributed Systems and Fault Tolerance, and Optimization and Packing Problems.

Recent publications by Robert E. Tarjan include:

  • Finding strong components using depth-first search (2023, European Journal of Combinatorics)
  • Zip Trees (2021, ACM Transactions on Algorithms)
  • Analysis of Smooth Heaps and Slim Heaps (2021, Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (Schloss Dagstuhl))
  • Connected Components on a PRAM in Log Diameter Time (2020, arXiv (Cornell University))
  • Simple Concurrent Connected Components Algorithms (2022, ACM Transactions on Parallel Computing)

Frequent coauthors include:

  • Uri Zwick
  • Corwin Sinnamon
  • Bernhard Haeupler
  • Richard Hladík
  • Václav Rozhoň

Common venues for publishing their research are:

  • arXiv (Cornell University)
  • ACM Transactions on Algorithms
  • European Journal of Combinatorics
  • Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (Schloss Dagstuhl)
  • ACM Transactions on Parallel Computing

Over the course of their career, Robert E. Tarjan has been recognized with several awards. These include the 1982 Rolf Nevanlinna Prize for contributions to the mathematical aspects of information science, the 1986 A. M. Turing Award for fundamental achievements in the design and analysis of algorithms and data structures, and the 1999 ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award for work related to the Splay Tree Data Structure.

Other distinctions include being named a SIAM Fellow in 2009 for contributions to algorithm design and analysis, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1990, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985, a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1978, as well as membership in the National Academy of Engineering since 1988 and the National Academy of Sciences since 1987. Robert E. Tarjan has also been recognized as an ACM Fellow since 1994 and a member of the European Academy of Sciences since 2003.

Best Publications

  • Depth-First Search and Linear Graph Algorithms

    Robert Endre Tarjan

  • Fibonacci heaps and their uses in improved network optimization algorithms

    Michael L. Fredman;Robert Endre Tarjan

  • A new approach to the maximum-flow problem

    Andrew V. Goldberg;Robert E. Tarjan

  • Data Structures and Network Algorithms

    Robert Endre Tarjan

  • Amortized efficiency of list update and paging rules

    Daniel D. Sleator;Robert E. Tarjan

  • Efficiency of a Good But Not Linear Set Union Algorithm

    Robert Endre Tarjan

  • A Separator Theorem for Planar Graphs

    Richard J. Lipton;Robert Endre Tarjan

  • Self-adjusting binary search trees

    Daniel Dominic Sleator;Robert Endre Tarjan

  • The Recognition of Series Parallel Digraphs

    Jacobo Valdes;Robert Endre Tarjan;Eugene L. Lawler

  • Time bounds for selection

    Manuel Blum;Robert W. Floyd;Vaughan Pratt;Ronald L. Rivest

  • Efficient Planarity Testing

    John Hopcroft;Robert Tarjan

  • Three partition refinement algorithms

    Robert Paige;Robert E. Tarjan

  • A data structure for dynamic trees

    Daniel D. Sleator;Robert Endre Tarjan

  • Fast algorithms for finding nearest common ancestors

    Dov Harel;Robert Endre Tarjan

  • Simple linear-time algorithms to test chordality of graphs, test acyclicity of hypergraphs, and selectively reduce acyclic hypergraphs

    Robert E. Tarjan;Mihalis Yannakakis

  • Algorithm 447: efficient algorithms for graph manipulation

    John Hopcroft;Robert Tarjan

  • Algorithmic Aspects of Vertex Elimination on Graphs

    Unknown

  • A linear-time algorithm for testing the truth of certain quantified boolean formulas☆

    Bengt Aspvall;Michael F. Plass;Robert Endre Tarjan

  • Applications of a Planar Separator Theorem

    Richard J. Lipton;Robert Endre Tarjan

  • A linear-time algorithm for a special case of disjoint set union

    Harold N. Gabow;Robert Endre Tarjan

  • Dividing a Graph into Triconnected Components

    John E. Hopcroft;Robert Endre Tarjan

Frequent Co-Authors

Haim Kaplan
Haim Kaplan Tel Aviv University
Daniel D. Sleator
Daniel D. Sleator Carnegie Mellon University
Harold N. Gabow
Harold N. Gabow University of Colorado Boulder
Andrew V. Goldberg
Andrew V. Goldberg Amazon (United States)
Renato F. Werneck
Renato F. Werneck Microsoft (United States)
John E. Hopcroft
John E. Hopcroft Cornell University
Kurt Mehlhorn
Kurt Mehlhorn Max Planck Institute for Informatics
Michael Randolph Garey
Michael Randolph Garey Nokia (United States)
Uri Zwick
Uri Zwick Tel Aviv University
Thomas Lengauer
Thomas Lengauer Max Planck Institute for Informatics

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