Martin Gardner

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Martin Gardner more or less singlehandedly sustained and nurtured interest in recreational mathematics for most of the 20th century. He is also interested in magic and the skeptical movement associated with James Randi. He lives in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Occasional conferences of people sharing his interests, known as the Gatherings for Gardner, are held in his honour. The first was held in 1993.

In his column, he introduced many subjects to a wider audience, including:-

• Flexagons
• John Conway's Game of Life
• Polyominoes
• The Soma cube
• many others... please add them here...

He is the author of more than 65 books.

Selected works

Books

• Mathematical Games
• The Colossal Book of Mathematics: Classic Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Problems (2001; W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN 0393020231)
• The Ambidextrous Universe: Mirror Asymmetry and Time-Reversed Worlds
• The Annotated Alice
• The Last Recreations

Collections of columns from Scientific American magazine

• Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions (1959; Pelican, UK ISBN 0140207139)
• More Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions (1961; Pelican, UK ISBN 0140207481)
• Further Mathematical Diversions (1969; Pelican, UK ISBN 014021996X)
• Mathematical Carnival (1975; Pelican, UK ISBN 0140220410)
• Mathematical Circus (1979; Pelican, UK ISBN 014022355X)
• many others... please add them here...

See also

• Piet Hein
• Douglas Hofstadter
• Hollow Earth

External links

• Notes on Martin Gardner (http://www.citlink.net/~dmn1/gardner.htm)
• An Interview with Martin Gardner (http://www.csicop.org/si/9803/gardner)
• Short Martin Gardner Bio (http://www.gamepuzzles.com/martin.htm)
• About Gathering for Gardner (http://www.math.berkeley.edu/~berlek/cgt/gardner)