

Martin Gardner dies, aged 95. - RiderOfGiraffes
http://www.jameslclark.com/martin-gardner-my-friend/

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RiderOfGiraffes
I grew up with Martin Gardner's books (of which there are many!) of puzzles,
math and magic. From them I learned so many simple and elegant tricks and
techniques that I use to this day.

It's largely due to Gardner's writings that I do what I do today, and I love
what I do. I had an afternoon with him in March and it was one of the truly
special events in my life. I haven't the words to express how I felt then.

Or how I feel now. My world has grown a little darker knowing he's no longer
in it.

~~~
raganwald
Martin's books changed my life. In one particularly introverted and dark
period of my adolescence I poured through them at the library. Thinking
through hexaflexagons, the game of life, multiple dimensions, and many more
ideas kept me from brooding over my troubles.

Good-bye, Martin. Thank you.

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thehodge
for those like me who asked who?

Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914 – May 22, 2010)[1] was an American
mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but
with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, pseudoscience, literature
(especially the writings of Lewis Carroll), philosophy, scientific skepticism,
and religion. He wrote the Mathematical Games column in Scientific American
from 1956 to 1981, and published over 70 books.[2].

From wikipedia

~~~
pg
A lot of people first learned about Lisp from him. In fact, I bet more people
learned about Lisp from him than anyone else.

~~~
tokenadult
_A lot of people first learned about Lisp from [Martin Gardner]. In fact, I
bet more people learned about Lisp from him than anyone else._

Your comment prompted me to do a Google search on Gardner and Lisp. Are you
sure you don't mean Douglas Hofstadter, Gardner's successor as Scientific
American columnist?

[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/20/reviews/hofstadter-
the...](http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/20/reviews/hofstadter-themas.html)

No doubt about it, Gardner is credited by a lot of mathematicians in roughly
my generation as their inspiration for studying mathematics.

~~~
pg
Hmm, I know I'm thinking about the famous _Scientific American_ column. I
thought it was before Hoftstadter took over, but it's hard to be certain.

~~~
anatoly
The column that introduced Lisp is from Hofstadter's era. It's collected in
his _Metamagical Themas_.

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RiderOfGiraffes
In case anybody knows, cares or was wondering, the magic words are Squeamish
Ossifrage.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Words_are_Squeamish_O...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Words_are_Squeamish_Ossifrage)

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jamesbritt
Earlier discussion here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1371335>

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
Thank you for that. It's a different article with different information. The
comments are complimentary.

This is a case where I wish HN has some sort of correlation or coalescence
system.

~~~
jacquesm
I could live with 3 or 4 Martin Gardner threads that link to each other, he
certainly deserved it.

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ghostDancer
As others have already said, just thank you Mr Gardner. I will use his books
to (try to ) introduce my son in the magic kingdom of maths.

