The American philosopher and writer Martin Gardner, nicknamed ”the juggler of mathematics” died in a nursing home in Norman, Oklahoma (USA), at the age of 95 years. The announcement of the death, which dates back to Saturday night, ‘was made today by his son James to ”New York Times.” Considered the most ‘influential and prolific writer on recreational mathematics of every age and country (with assets of over 70 books), Gardner was born October 21, 1914 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
At age 22 he graduated from the University of Chicago, received his BA in philosophy, and then began working in the local newspaper and the press service of the University. During World War II, Gardner served in the Navy, and then continued his journalistic activities in the magazines Esquire and children’s Humpty Dumpty Magazine.
He has written nearly 70 books. Among the works of Gardner is the philosophical essays, essays on the history of mathematics, math tricks, science-fiction studies, science-fiction stories, challenges the intellect.
From 1956 to 1981, Martin Gardner led heading Mathematical games and entertainment magazine Scientific American. The fame brought him also the comments to the books by Lewis Carroll and Gilbert Keith Chesterton.
Concocting stories and puzzles designed to develop logic and thinking in children five to seven years, he in 1956 received a proposal to conduct a heading of mathematical games and entertainment magazine Scientific American.
Besides his son James, of Norman, he is survived by another son, Thomas, of Asheville, N.C., and three grandchildren.
“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.”