Remembering Martin Gardner, Mathematical Magician

“I’m strictly a journalist.”

– Martin Gardner

Martin Gardner had no formal mathematical training. A newspaper reporter, publicist, freelancer for Esquire, caseworker, magician, skeptic, Navy sailor, and most famously, “Mathematical Games” columnist for Scientific American, Gardner displayed a boundless energy and enthusiasm for intellectual inquiry. A tireless advocate for science, his popular books and articles painstakingly argue against the dangers of pseudoscience in all forms.

On Saturday, Gardner passed away at the age of 95 in Norman, OK. TSoTP takes a look back.

A Q&A with Thomas Banchoff and William Lindgren

Thomas Banchoff and William Lindgren recently signed copies of their new edition of Flatland at the MAA Conference. Their new edition of the classic Victorian satire is full of annotations for those less familiar with Victorian society or with the mathematical allegories involved.

Here’s a Q&A our own Laura Evans conducted with them:

Laura: Do you think Abbott’s social observations apply to today’s society?

Banchoff & Lindgren: Some of the depictions of life in Flatland respond to specific conditions in Victorian England, which are now mainly of historical interest. Nevertheless, many of the topics of Abbott’s satire remain relevant, for example, the superficiality of what passes for knowledge, the unreflecting deference to prevailing opinions and authority, and the treatment of women. Flatland women are mere (one-dimensional) line segments, a fitting representation of their relegation to the narrowly defined role of child-bearers and housekeepers. Polygons with so many sides that they are indistinguishable from circles have a vested interest in maintaining their power, something as true about our leaders today as it was in Abbott’s time.

Most Eminent Man of Letters and Numbers

In his review of Gardner’s latest works, Michael Dirda gives a charming rundown of Gardner’s long, involved, illustrious career of being the most math-savvy non-mathematician imaginable.

Happy Birthday, Martin Gardner!

Today is Martin Gardner’s 95th birthday. Yesterday’s New York Times featured a lovely profile of the great math puzzlist.

Russell in graphic novel

A new graphic novel (reviewed in the Guardian) details the struggles of Bertrand Russell in striving toward mathematical and logical truth. Funny bit: In [Principia Mathematica], the authors famously take 362 pages to prove 1 + 1 = 2, using a method so arcane that Cambridge University Press could not find anyone to evaluate the [...]