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In graph theory, a planar graph is a graph that can be embedded in the plane, i.e., it can be drawn on the plane in such a way that its edges intersect only at their endpoints. In other words, it can be drawn in such a way that no edges cross each other. Such a drawing is called a plane graph or planar embedding of the graph. A plane graph can be defined as a planar graph with a mapping from every node to a point on a plane, and from every edge to a plane curve on that plane, such that the extreme points of each curve are the points mapped from its end nodes, and all curves are disjoint except on their extreme points. Every graph that can be drawn on a plane can be drawn on the sphere as well, and vice versa, by means of stereographic projection. Plane graphs can be encoded by combinatorial maps or rotation systems. An equivalence class of topologically equivalent drawings on the sphere, usually with additional assumptions such as the absence of isthmuses, is called a planar map. Although a plane graph has an external or unbounded face, none of the faces of a planar map has a particular status. Planar graphs generalize to graphs drawable on a surface of a given genus. In this terminology, planar graphs have genus 0, since the plane (and the sphere) are surfaces of genus 0. See "graph embedding" for other related topics. The Polish mathematician Kazimierz Kuratowski provided a characterization of planar graphs in terms of forbidden graphs, now known as Kuratowski's theorem: A finite graph is planar if and only if it does not contain a subgraph that is a subdivision of the complete graph K_5 or the complete bipartite graph K_3,3 (utility graph). A subdivision of a graph results from inserting vertices into edges (for example, changing an edge • —— • to • — • — • ) zero or more times. Instead of considering subdivisions, Wagner's theorem deals with minors: A finite graph is planar if and only if it does not have K_5 or K_3,3 as a minor.

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In graph theory, an undirected graph H is called a minor of the graph G if H can be formed from G by deleting edges, vertices and by contracting edges. The theory of graph minors began with Wagner's theorem that a graph is planar if and only if its minors include neither the complete graph K5 nor the complete bipartite graph K3,3. The Robertson–Seymour theorem implies that an analogous forbidden minor characterization exists for every property of graphs that is preserved by deletions and edge contractions.

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