<sod>Dijkstra thought about the shortest path problem when working at the Mathematical Center in Amsterdam in 1956 as a programmer to demonstrate capabilities of a new computer called ARMAC. His objective was to choose both a problem as well as an answer (that would be produced by computer) that non-computing people could understand. He designed the shortest path algorithm and later implemented it for ARMAC for a slightly simplified transportation map of 64 cities in the Netherlands (ARMAC was a 6-bit computer and hence could hold 64 cities comfortably).<ref name="Dijkstra Interview"/> A year later, he came across another problem from hardware engineers working on the institute's next computer: minimize the amount of wire needed to connect the pins on the back panel of the machine. As a solution, he re-discovered the algorithm known as [[Prim's algorithm|Prim's minimal spanning tree algorithm]] (known earlier to [[Vojtěch Jarník|Jarník]], and also rediscovered by Prim).<ref name="EWD841a">{{citation | last1 = Dijkstra | first1 =Edward W. | title = Reflections on "A note on two problems in connexion with graphs | url = https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd08xx/EWD841a.PDF}}</ref><ref>{{citation|first=Robert Endre|last=Tarjan|authorlink=Robert Endre Tarjan|title=Data Structures and Network Algorithms|series=CBMS_NSF Regional Conference Series in Applied Mathematics|volume=44|year=1983|publisher=Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics|page=75|quote=The third classical minimum spanning tree algorithm was discovered by Jarník and rediscovered by Prim and Dikstra; it is commonly known as Prim's algorithm.}}</ref> Dijkstra published the algorithm in 1959, two years after Prim and 29 years after Jarník.<ref>R. C. Prim: ''Shortest connection networks and some generalizations''. In: ''Bell System Technical Journal'', 36 (1957), pp.&nbsp;1389–1401.</ref><ref>V. Jarník: ''O jistém problému minimálním'' [About a certain minimal problem], Práce Moravské Přírodovědecké Společnosti, 6, 1930, pp.&nbsp;57–63. (in Czech)</ref><eod>
<sod>Dijkstra thought about the shortest path problem when working at the Mathematical Center in Amsterdam in 1956 as a programmer to demonstrate capabilities of a new computer called ARMAC. His objective was to choose both a problem as well as an answer (that would be produced by computer) that non-computing people could understand. He designed the shortest path algorithm and later implemented it for ARMAC for a slightly simplified transportation map of 64 cities in the Netherlands (64, so that 6 bits would be sufficient to encode the city number).<ref name="Dijkstra Interview"/> A year later, he came across another problem from hardware engineers working on the institute's next computer: minimize the amount of wire needed to connect the pins on the back panel of the machine. As a solution, he re-discovered the algorithm known as [[Prim's algorithm|Prim's minimal spanning tree algorithm]] (known earlier to [[Vojtěch Jarník|Jarník]], and also rediscovered by Prim).<ref name="EWD841a">{{citation | last1 = Dijkstra | first1 =Edward W. | title = Reflections on "A note on two problems in connexion with graphs | url = https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd08xx/EWD841a.PDF}}</ref><ref>{{citation|first=Robert Endre|last=Tarjan|authorlink=Robert Endre Tarjan|title=Data Structures and Network Algorithms|series=CBMS_NSF Regional Conference Series in Applied Mathematics|volume=44|year=1983|publisher=Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics|page=75|quote=The third classical minimum spanning tree algorithm was discovered by Jarník and rediscovered by Prim and Dikstra; it is commonly known as Prim's algorithm.}}</ref> Dijkstra published the algorithm in 1959, two years after Prim and 29 years after Jarník.<ref>R. C. Prim: ''Shortest connection networks and some generalizations''. In: ''Bell System Technical Journal'', 36 (1957), pp.&nbsp;1389–1401.</ref><ref>V. Jarník: ''O jistém problému minimálním'' [About a certain minimal problem], Práce Moravské Přírodovědecké Společnosti, 6, 1930, pp.&nbsp;57–63. (in Czech)</ref><eod>