Gardner's timing was perfect. Only a few outlets for recreational mathematicians existed at the time. "A lot of creative mathematicians were making discoveries, but the work was considered too trivial by professional math journals to publish. So I had the pleasure of picking up this stuff." Perhaps more important to the success of the column was his nonmathematical background. "His references were so wonderfully cross-cultural and broad," Rucker states. "He talked about experimental literature, about cranks, about philosophers—relating mathematics to the most exciting things around." He was also able to form a network of associates who passed on ideas. "Martin was very good at giving attribution," says mathematician Ronald L. Graham of AT&T Bell Laboratories. "That inspired people to work on problems."
Gardner has a natural penchant for fun and games. In an April Fools' piece, he claimed Einstein's theory of relativity was disproved and that Leonardo da Vinci invented the flush toilet. At the suggestion of a friend, he harshly panned his own Whys book in a review written under the pseudonym George Groth. "I heard that people read the review and didn't buy the book on my recommendation," Gardner comments.
Although his home seems to display order and formality, Gardner's playfulness is everywhere. Optical illusions abound, including an inside-out face mask illuminated from below that appears holographic, eerily seeming to track a viewer's motions. He demonstrates several magic tricks with rubber bands, at one point rummaging through a closet to extract a fake, blood-dripping severed arm through which he wiggles his own fingers. This Wonderland feeling is appropriate, for Gardner is an expert on Lewis Carroll. His best-seller is The Annotated Alice, in which he shows that Carroll encoded messages, chess moves and caricatures of people he knew. In Los Angeles recently, wealthy electronics store owner John Fry inaugurated a new outlet containing 15- foot statues of the Alice characters—and Gardner was the honored guest.
After nearly 40 years of presenting math, Gardner says the biggest transformation in the field has been the entrance of the computer. "It's changed the character of all mathematics, especially combinatorial math, where problems are impossible to solve by hand. A good example is the four-color map problem, which was finally solved by a computer." The theorem states that at least four hues are needed to paint all planar maps so that no adjacent regions are the same color. Chaos theory, fractals and factoring of prime numbers are a few other examples.
Gardner himself does not own a computer (or, for that matter, a fax or answering machine). He once did—and got hooked playing chess on it. "Then one day I was doing the dishes with my wife, and I looked down and saw the pattern of the chessboard on the surface of the water," he recalls. The retinal retention lasted about a week, during which he gave his computer to one of his two sons. "I'm a scissors-and-rubber-cement man," Gardner says, although he feels he ought to get another computer despite the lasting impression his first one left.
Retirement does not find Gardner at rest. He writes for the Skeptical Inquirer, although he is planning to switch to topics that are not outright shams, such as Freud's dream theory and false memories evoked by therapists. And there is time for games. During my visit, an editor called to say that his firm wants to publish Gardner's manuscript on Lewis Carroll's mathematical puzzles. Gardner describes a recent problem he received from Japan, which dealt with an ant crawling on an extended cube. A mathematician phones to inquire whether Gardner heard anything about a rumor of a new result in Penrose tiling. And every afternoon at 4:30, he and Charlotte investigate fluid dynamics by mixing vodka martinis. For Gardner, the game is the life.
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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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