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Martin Gardner

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Martin Gardner

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Also known as Armand T. Ringer

American mathematics and science writer (1914–2010)

Person · Open Library

Born
1914-10-21
Died
2010-05-22
Works
167

Top works

  • Mathematical puzzles and diversions from Scientific American
  • Harpatḳaʼot Alis be-erets ha-pelaʼot
  • Catalogue of the exhibit of the Department of the interior, U.S.A., Centennial exposition of the Ohio valley and central states, Cincinnati, Ohio, July 4 to October 27, 1888
  • Mi-baʻad la-marʼah
  • Further Mathematical Diversons

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Country
US
Active from
1956

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
14
Total plays
33

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Martin+Gardner">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Martin Gardner

Quotes

  • A surprising proportion of mathematicians are accomplished musicians. Is it because music and mathematics share patterns that are beautiful?
  • I can say this. I believe that the human mind, or even the mind of a cat, is more interesting in its complexity than an entire galaxy if it is devoid of life.
  • Mathemagical mathematics combines the beauty of mathematical structure with the entertainment value of a trick.
  • The last level of metaphor in the Alice books is this: that life, viewed rationally and without illusion, appears to be a nonsense tale told by an idiot mathematician. At the heart of things science finds only a mad, never-ending quadrille of Mock Turtle Waves and Gryphon Particles. For a moment the waves and particles dance in grotesque, inconceivably complex patterns capable of reflecting on their own absurdity.
  • There are, and always have been, destructive pseudo-scientific notions linked to race and religion; these are the most widespread and damaging. Hopefully, educated people can succeed in shedding light into these areas of prejudice and ignorance, for as Voltaire once said: "Men will commit atrocities as long as they believe absurdities."
  • In many cases a dull proof can be supplemented by a geometric analogue so simple and beautiful that the truth of a theorem is almost seen at a glance.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Born
( 1914-10-21 ) October 21, 1914, Tulsa, Oklahoma , U.S.
Died
May 22, 2010 (2010-05-22) (aged 95), Norman, Oklahoma , U.S.
Occupation
Author
Alma mater
University of Chicago
Genre
Recreational mathematics , puzzles , close-up magic , annotated literary works , debunking
Literary movement
Scientific skepticism
Notable works
Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science , " Mathematical Games " ( Scientific American column), The Annotated Alice , The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener , The Ambidextrous Universe
Notable awards
Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition (1987) , George Pólya Award (1999) , Allendoerfer Award (1990), Trevor Evans Award (1998)
Spouse
Charlotte Greenwald ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1952 ) ​

via Wikipedia infobox

Official website

Martin Gardner centennial,

martin-gardner.org

Link to the official site · 12,389 chars · not written by Vinony

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914 – May 22, 2010) was an American writer on popular mathematics and popular science. His interests also encompassed magic, scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literature – especially the writings of Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and G. K. Chesterton. He was a leading authority on Lewis Carroll; The Annotated Alice, which incorporated the text of Carroll's two Alice books, was his most successful work and sold over a million copies. He had a lifelong interest in magic and illusion and in 1999, MAGIC magazine named him as one of the "100 Most Influential Magicians of the Twentieth Century". He was considered the doyen of American puzzlers. He was a prolific and versatile author, publishing more than 100 books.

Gardner was best known for creating and sustaining interest in recreational mathematics—and by extension, mathematics in general—throughout the latter half of the 20th century, principally through his "Mathematical Games" columns. These appeared for twenty-five years in Scientific American, and his subsequent books collecting them.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Martin Gardner” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (3)