Martin Gardner CC-BY-SA-2.0-d Konrad Jacobs
Martin Gardner was a leading rationalist and the twentieth century’s greatest recreational mathematician. After his death in 2010, his fans established an annual Celebration of the Mind to take place on his birthday, 21 October. Each year, people hold events all over the world to remind us of his great legacy. This year, to mark the centenary of his birth, there will be a particularly large number of events and you can find out if one is happening near you by clicking here.
As Good Thinking’s contribution to Celebration of the Mind 2014, science writer Simon Singh will be visiting five schools in his local borough of Richmond. He will be talking about Martin’s life and then discussing a different mathematical or scientific topic at each school.
You can find out more about Martin Gardner via the links below:
http://celebrationofmind.org/
http://www.celebrationofmind.org/OCTOBER.html
http://www.martin-gardner.org/Centennial.html
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/profile-of-martin-gardner/
Perhaps the greatest tribute to Gardner and his playful approach to mathematics was made by a colleague, Persi Diaconis, who wrote that Gardner “turned thousands of children into mathematicians, and thousands of mathematicians into children.”
UPDATE 22/10/2014
Simon visited Orleans Park School, Hampton Academy, Teddington School, Twickenham Academy and Waldegrave School for Girls (pictured here).
