Martin Gardner, R.I.P.

[Violet Crown]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/us/24gardner.html

 

"Martin Gardner, who teased brains with math puzzles in Scientific American for a quarter-century and who indulged his own restless curiosity by writing more than 70 books on topics as diverse as magic, philosophy and the nuances of Alice in Wonderland, died Saturday in Norman, Okla. He was 95.

...

Mr. Gardner also wrote fiction, poetry, literary and film criticism, as well as puzzle books. He was a leading voice in refuting pseudoscientific theories, from ESP to flying saucers. He was so prolific and wide-ranging in his interests that critics speculated that there just had to be more than one of him."

 

Gardner introduced many people to math as a fun, interesting window onto the universe; my dh and dd14 were both fans of his and are grieving his passing.

 

If you had a favorite Gardner puzzle, share it here.

[nrg]

Thanks for the news and the link. I pored over every issues of Scientific American when I was in high school and loved the puzzles. I checked out all of Gardner's books from our library and remember a family vacation when I was 13 when I never stopped pestering my parents with these.