MARTIN GARDNER, 1914-2010.
Image: ELLIOT ERWITT/MAGNUM
Editor's note: In light of the recent death of Martin Gardner, we are republishing this profile from the December 1995 issue of Scientific American.
The clerk at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in downtown Manhattan is not all that helpful. Having had limited success with smaller retailers, I am hoping that the computer can tell me which of Martin Gardner's 50 or so books are available in the store's massive inventory. Most of his books, of course, deal with recreational mathematics, the topic for which he is best known. But he has also penned works in literature, philosophy and fiction. I am looking specifically for The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, Gardner's essays that detail his approach to life. The clerk tells me to try the religion section, under "Christian friction." Is he kidding?
A scowl breaks across Gardner's otherwise amicable face after I relate the story. He is puzzled, too, but for a different reason. The book has nothing to do with that, Gardner insists. He makes it a point to describe himself as philosophical theist—in the tradition, he says, of Plato and Kant, among others. "I decided I couldn't call myself a Christian in any legitimate sense of the word, but I have retained a belief in a personal God," Gardner clarifies. "I admire the teachings of Jesus, but to me it's a little bit dishonest if you don't think Jesus was divine in some special way"—which Gardner does not.
Theology and philosophy weigh heavily in our conversation, something I did not expect from a man who spent 25 years writing Scientific American' s "Mathematical Games" column and who, in the process, influenced untold numbers of minds. "I think my whole generation of mathematicians grew up reading Martin Gardner," comments Rudy Rucker, a writer and mathematician at San Jose State University. It is not uncommon to run into people who subscribed solely because of the mathematical gamester, a realization not lost on the magazine's caretakers when he resigned in 1981. "Here is the letter I have been dreading to receive from Martin Gardner," memoed then editor Dennis Flanagan to then publisher Gerard Piel. "I had a lot of books I wanted to write," Gardner explains of his decision. "I just didn't have time to do the column. I miss doing it because I met a lot of famous mathematicians through it."
In his living room in Hendersonville, N.C., near the Great Smoky Mountains at the Tennessee border, he rattles off several of these notables. Roger Penrose of the University of Oxford, now a best-selling author about consciousness and the brain, first became famous after Gardner reported Penrose's finding of tiles that can coat a plane without ever repeating the same pattern. John H. Conway of Princeton University saw his game-of-life computer program, a metaphor for evolution, flourish after appearing in the column. Most surprising to me, though, is Gardner's mention of the Dutch artist M. C. Escher, whose work he helped to publicize in 1961. He points to an original Escher print over my head, between the shelves of his wife's collection of antique metal doorstops. If he had known Escher would become famous, Gardner says, he would have bought more. "It's one of the rare pictures with color in it," he remarks. "It's based on Poincaré's model of the hyperbolic plane."
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12 Comments
Add CommentMay you rest in peace, Mr. Gardner. I hope you have had the great "Aha!" as you passed into the next life.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease don't insult his memory by insinuating that he is in his "next life." He contributed during his time and he will be missed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have a degree in math and am a magician and am inspired to read Mr. Gardner's books! I wonder if he knew his contemporary, Richard Feynman. They seem to think alike - OUTSIDE the box. Mr Gardner's writings, musings, and indeed his life have obviously been an inspiration to so many. What a remarkable man.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe New York Times obit quotes Martin Gardner as follows: "I just play all the time," he said in an interview with Skeptical Inquirer in 1998, "and am fortunate enough to get paid for it."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd we readers of yours got just so much fun out of your "play" - not to mention an education, profound insights into science (and the nonscience that you debunked), and even, quite often, great inspiration. Thank you, Martin Gardner, R.I.P..
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What a great life Martin Gardner had. He will be missed greatly. He was an inspiration to many of us, and without a doubt, an inspiration to many more.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat a great life Martin Gardner had. Now, it's really up to all of us to continue Martin's work by inspiring future generations, by sharing all sorts of interesting ideas and findings in all different fields of science. Martin will be missed, but we won't let his work be forgotten!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMartin Gardner should also be known as an American thinker and philosopher. He was one of the great expositors of the ideas of great philosophers and thinkers, just as he was a great expositor of the ideas of great mathematicians.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHis books of philosophical and other subjects include:
The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener
Are Universes as Thick as Blackberries?
The Night is Large
I would like to write an impassioned exhortation on why his books should never be forgotten but I don't think it is necessary: As long as the American spirit survives, the works of Martin Gardner will live.
I am still working on your counter-example to the four color theorem. http://www.flickr.com/photos/49058045@N00/3890000596/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener" is available at (where else?) Amazon.com. Kudos to Mr. Yam and posthumously to the great Mr. Gardner.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Christian friction" -- you might mean "Christian fiction", or I might have missed the friction section in the book store all these years.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am so sorry to hear of Mr Gardner's passing. I have read his columns in Scientific American for decades, and while I could not solve all the problems, delighted in reading them, his books as well. His style was so clear. Years ago, when his output had reduced, he still contributed an occasional puzzle to Marilyn Vos Savant's weekly puzzle column in Parade magazine. Ms Vos Savant in return would pay a glowing compliment for his attention to her column. It was always touching to see the interaction.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHe set a very high example in expository writing. I often think of his style.
How many readers used to get Scientific American magazine, skim the cover and then dive into the back to find what Martin Gardner was up to this month? He oftentimes would end his article with a few problems for the reader to solve, assuring that it would be easy given the preceding solved problems and examples. This often illustrated the hyperbolic difficulty curve of solving the last problems with just a few more factors added. The next month the letters to the editor would often necessitate Martin Gardner to divulge the answer and show how to solve it, and he would always give credit to readers who wrote in with both the correct answer and innovative alternative solutions. It was amazing how much he made the readers think and have a good time doing it.
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