Conway influenced me greatly. When his Game of Life gained wide recognition in Martin Gardner's wonderful Mathematical Games column back in October 1970, I was enthralled with it, and dreamed of programming a computer to play the game on a large plane (at that time, the biggest computer I had access to had 4K of memory).
He was truly a genius among geniuses, with many noteworthy ideas, inventions, and proofs to his credit.
I remember the game of life. RIP.
ping
I hope he won the big prize!
Not because he was old, it was COVID.
No one dies of natural (or any other) causes anymore.
I used to have a really good version of it, I think it was in Flash, but while there are a lot of versions out there, I haven’t found any that were as good.
A gifted practitioner with the equal ability to teach is truly rare ...
Covid, ends the life of the inventor of The Game of Life.
Everyone dies from Covid.
We need a telethon. Where is Jerry Lewis? Don’t tell me, died due to Covid complications.
What an amazing life and interesting biography. Thanks for posting this.
I worked with a Brit who was very similar. Pure genius in metallurgy, incredible jazz saxophonist, could write perfect doggerel without editing it, could speak and lecture off the top of his head on many subjects, friends with everybody...just an amazing guy.
Born in Liverpool.
If he had been a musician, he could have been a Beatle.