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As I was walking through my university's mathematics department, I came across a poster pinned to the notice board. Underneath, it simply said 'In memory'. However, I could not connect the poster to the person it celebrated; because there was no name in sight! I'm sure you can help me, though...

monument

Well? Whom does it commemorate?

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up vote 4 down vote accepted

Each of the four diagrams with letters

can almost be rearranged to have the form at the top

but in each case

one edge of the graph -- one connection between letters -- is missing.

These are, respectively,

D-I, J-K, S-T, and R-A

so this is a memorial to

Edsger Dijkstra.

I expect it was constructed using graphs because

some of Dijkstra's most famous work involves algorithms operating on graphs. (Most importantly, his shortest-path-finding algorithm.)

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Fantastic detective work =) – Tryth 2 hours ago
    
Thanks. I liked this puzzle a lot. Short but sweet. – Gareth McCaughan 2 hours ago

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