Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer

Subject: Obit: Martin Gardner
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 23 May 10 - 03:01 PM

Mathemagician Martin Gardner dies

Science writer, 95, known as popularizer and debunker
The Associated Press
updated 12:07 p.m. CT, Sun., May 23, 2010

NORMAN, Okla. - Prolific mathematics and science writer Martin Gardner, known for popularizing recreational mathematics and debunking paranormal claims, died Saturday. He was 95.
Gardner died Saturday after a brief illness at Norman Regional Hospital, his son James Gardner said. He had been living at an assisted living facility in Norman.

Martin Gardner was born in 1914 in Tulsa, Okla., and earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy at the University of Chicago.
He became a freelance writer, and in the 1950s wrote features and stories for several children's magazines. His creation of paper-folding puzzles led to his publication in Scientific American magazine, where he wrote his "Mathematical Games" column for 25 years.
The column introduced the public to puzzles and concepts such as fractals and Chinese tangram puzzles, as well as the work of artist M.C. Escher.

Allyn Jackson, deputy editor of Notices, a journal of the American Mathematical Society, wrote in 2005 that Gardner "opened the eyes of the general public to the beauty and fascination of mathematics and inspired many to go on to make the subject their life's work."

Jackson said Gardner's "crystalline prose, always enlightening, never pedantic, set a new standard for high quality mathematical popularization."

The mathematics society awarded him its Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition in 1987 for his work on math, particularly his Scientific American column.

"He was a renaissance man who built new ideas through words, numbers and puzzles," his son, a professor of special education at the University of Oklahoma, told The Associated Press.

Gardner also became known as a skeptic of the paranormal and wrote columns for Skeptical Inquirer magazine. He wrote works debunking public figures such as psychic Uri Geller, who gained fame for claiming to bend spoons with his mind.

Most recently he wrote a feature published in Skeptical Inquirer's March/April on Oprah Winfrey's New Age interests.

Former magician James Randi, now a writer and investigator of paranormal claims, paid tribute to Gardner on his website Saturday, calling his colleague and longtime friend "a very bright spot in my firmament."

He ended his Scientific American column in 1981 and retired to Hendersonville, N.C. Gardner continued to write, and in 2002 moved to Norman, where his son lives.

Gardner wrote more than 50 books.

Gardner was preceded in death by his wife, Charlotte. Besides James Gardner, he is survived by another son, Tom, of Asheville, N.C.

[end quote]

Quite probably, people who have seen Martin's columns and/or books may be familiar with his style without recognizing his name; but he has been a source of "interesting diversions" for many.

The obituary doesn't mention that after his retirement he continued to write his "Mathematical Puzzles" columns for several years in more obscure publications, including Technology Review where it was included only in the "alumni edition." The later columns were somewhat more specialized to the interests of people with "more sophisticated" education in theoretical mathematics - or obsessive fanatacism about weird stuff like "bridge" and "chess" puzzles.

John

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 23 May 10 - 03:13 PM

Read his column in Scientific American for years. Also read his earliest mathematical puzzles and diversions books. Didn't know he was still alive. Sorry he's gone.

Russ (Permanent GUEST)

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 May 10 - 03:57 PM

And I too am sorry he's gone. He made math and science interesting and fun to read.

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: jeffp
Date: 23 May 10 - 04:09 PM

Read a number of his books and liked them very much. He will definitely be missed.

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: gnu
Date: 23 May 10 - 04:11 PM

I recall reading a couple when I was at uni... can't recall anything about them.

RIP

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 23 May 10 - 05:21 PM

The Annotated Alice was once of his. Versatile chap.

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: Paul Burke
Date: 23 May 10 - 05:46 PM

A great bloke. Fads and Fallacies published (I think) in 1956, but the scientologists are still with us. Work unfinished.

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: GUEST,John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 23 May 10 - 08:08 PM

Eons ago--when I worked in the aerospace industry--Litton Industries gave away little 3X3 inch booklets with his mathematical and logic puzzles. I was lucky if I could solve 25% of them. RIP smart man.

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: mousethief
Date: 23 May 10 - 09:02 PM

Very smart and astute man. Fun to read. May his memory be eternal.

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 May 10 - 01:53 AM

We used to get Scientific American in my library & I always looked at his column.

sandra (not at all scientifically/mathematically inclined)

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 24 May 10 - 03:52 PM

Still got a few of his books from 20-30 years back. Always fascinating.
Ross

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: Rowan
Date: 24 May 10 - 08:09 PM

Yet another great bites the dust! I found his Scientific American column and, after a while, it was what kept me interested in that magazine. His Annotated Alice I've recommended to many.

Peace be to him, Rowan

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 25 May 10 - 12:56 PM

NY Times: Martin Gardner, Puzzler and Polymath, Dies at 95

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: Joe_F
Date: 25 May 10 - 06:31 PM

I think my favorite of his works is "Six Sensational Discoveries", which appeared in the April 1975 issue of _Scientific American_. This purported to be a list of "six major discoveries of 1974 that...were inadequately reported". It began with a counterexample to the four-color-map theorem, and proceeded thru carefully graded degrees of incredibility to instructions for making a psi-powered motor, by which point most readers would have noticed what month it was. Not all, however -- in _The Colossal Book of Mathematics_, where the column is reprinted, you will find an addendum containing some hilariously credulous responses, as well as some reports of further research along the same lines.

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 26 May 10 - 04:49 AM

I used to know a Martin Gairdner, a partner in Binder Hamlyn Chartered Accountants - not one of the nicest people.

Subject: RE: Obit: Martin Gardner - math and science writer
From: GUEST,Wolfgang
Date: 26 May 10 - 10:37 AM

He's the man who taught me (by his books) skeptical thinking.

Wolfgang