A Tribute to Martin Gardner, 1914-2010

This essay was read at the first Gathering for Gardner, held in 1993 in Atlanta

Gardner eschewed special attention for his work, despite having single-handedly popularized recreational mathematics in the U.S. Nevertheless, some fond memories and insights into the man are posted below.

Martin Gardner died May 22nd at 95. He wrote the Mathematical Games column for Scientific American magazine for 25 years and published more than 70 books. Podcast host Steve Mirsky talks with Gardner's friend Douglas Hofstadter, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, about Martin Gardner

Fifty years ago Gardner launched the modern skeptical movement. Unfortunately, much of what he wrote about is still current today

For 25 years, he wrote Scientific American's Mathematical Games column, educating and entertaining minds and launching the careers of generations of mathematicians

How Keats's famous line applies to math and science

For every table—turn, turn, turn... there is a proof