PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Marijn J. H. Heule

Also known as Marijn Heule, Marijn J.H. Heule

Marijn Heule is an associate professor in Carnegie Mellon University's Computer Science Department who uses automated reasoning and SAT solvers to prove mathematical results. He completed his PhD at Delft University of Technology in 2008 and worked at the University of Texas at Austin from 2012 to 2019. With Oliver Kullmann and Victor Marek, he solved the Boolean Pythagorean triples problem in 2016. He proved that Schur number five is 160 in 2017 and coauthored a 2020 paper that settled the seven-dimensional case of Keller's conjecture. In 2023, he and Bernardo Subercaseaux proved that the packing chromatic number of the infinite square grid is 15.

Works
278
Citations
4,522
h-index
32
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2008

    A doctorate at Delft

    He completes his PhD at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands in 2008 with the thesis “SmArT solving: Tools and techniques for satisfiability solvers”.

  2. 2011

    The cube-and-conquer method

    In 2011, the first paper on his cube-and-conquer method wins the best paper award at HVC 2011. The method enables parallel SAT solving on hard problems.

  3. 2012–2019

    From Texas to Carnegie Mellon

    He works at the University of Texas at Austin from 2012 to 2019, first as a research scientist and then as a research assistant professor. In 2019, he joins Carnegie Mellon University's Computer Science Department as an associate professor.

  4. 2016

    The Pythagorean triples problem

    In 2016, he, Oliver Kullmann and Victor Marek solve the Boolean Pythagorean triples problem using SAT solvers. They show that colouring the numbers 1 to 7,825 with two colours always produces a Pythagorean triple of one colour. The team produces and checks a proof of almost 200 terabytes.

  5. 2017

    Schur number five

    In 2017, he proves that Schur number five is 160 using parallel SAT solving. This is the largest number n for which the integers from 1 to n can receive five colours without a single-colour solution to a + b = c. He validates the two-petabyte proof with a formally verified checker.

  6. 2020

    Resolving Keller's conjecture

    In 2020, he coauthors “The Resolution of Keller’s Conjecture” with Joshua Brakensiek, John Mackey and David Narváez. Using automated reasoning, the team settles the remaining seven-dimensional case of this problem about tiling space with equal-sized cubes. The paper wins the best paper award at IJCAR 2020.

  7. By 2022

    An Amazon Scholar

    By 2022, he is an Amazon Scholar and divides his time between Amazon and Carnegie Mellon University.

  8. 2023

    Fifteen colours for a grid

    In 2023, he and Bernardo Subercaseaux prove that the packing chromatic number of the infinite square grid is 15. Their result settles a problem introduced in 2002.

  9. 2026

    Professor at Carnegie Mellon

    In 2026, he teaches Advanced Topics in Logic: Automated Reasoning and Satisfiability at Carnegie Mellon University. He is an associate professor in its Computer Science Department, where he works on parallel SAT solving and verification of solver results.

Career

  1. Since 2019Carnegie Mellon UniversityAssociate Professor, Computer Science
  2. 2022–2026AmazonAmazon Scholar
  3. 2012–2019University of Texas at AustinResearch Staff, Research Scientist

Education

  1. 2008Delft University of TechnologyPhD

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Marijn Heule cs.utexas.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Marijn Heule cs.cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Marijn Heule en.wikipedia.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Solving and Verifying the boolean Pythagorean Triples problem via Cube-and-Conquer arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Everything's Bigger in Texas cs.utexas.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Schur Number Five arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. The Resolution of Keller's Conjecture cs.cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Automated reasoning at Amazon: A conversation amazon.science. Checked 27 October 2026.
  9. The Packing Chromatic Number of the Infinite Square Grid is 15 arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.