R.I.P. Martin Gardner

Only today I learned that Martin Gardner, mathematician and publicist, passed away on May 22, 2010, at the ripe old age of 95.

Ond can speak of a full life, of course. And still I am very sad without ever having known the man in person. But he was in some way always with me, ever since I started to read Scientific American, at age 20.

He was a brilliant writer, and could transform the most abstract concepts into eminently readable essays. As editor-in-chief of the American, he led the magazine through its 'classic' period, its very best.

I do not know where he stood in the field of politics, and perhaps I don't really want to know that at this point in time.

To conclude: if you ever find the anthology 'The Night Is Large' by him, get it. Oftentimes it can be obtained at bargain price.

Martin Gardner’s column, “Mathematical Games”, iirc, was my personal favorite part of Scientific American when it was wonderfully readable. (SA and Readers Digest have both died a horrible death in the last few decades. Maybe it is just a reflection of the death of American culture in general.) I believe Gardner was conventionally liberal in a 1950’s kinda way.

His writing on almost any topic was provocative and informed.

Great call. You are right; somehow SA and RD were by the people, for the people, in the best kind of way. Folks who were not conversant with the language of hard science, still could get to know very, very much by reading SA.

RD was read by my uncles, who did not have a high education, but wanted to know about world affairs, nature, well, just about everything.

I think you are spot on: the intellectual demise of precisely these two magazines may well reflect a wide-spread problem in the West (in Holland also). It is as if everyone’s just concerned with pursuing bland entertainment. Families aren’t the entities they once were. Parents and kids move around in the same house, as strangers, each one shut off in his/her own private world.

I often tend to despair on the future of the West. In Holland, it is absolutely normal for kids in early puberty to start drinking alcohol on late Thursday afternoons, and throw in some XTC pills of amphetamines for good measure. The partying then goes on until Monday early morning. They don’t see their parents. They take tiny naps instead of getting some restorative sleep.

This is not an exception, it is endemic. We have special First Aid Hospiral Posts for young kids, comatose from all the drinking and drugging. There is not that much complaining about the situation.

...and still many Dutch wonder why educational achievements have taken such a deep dive over here. A lot of teachers have severely sub-standard capacities in the fields of language and calculus. First year med and law students lack basic skills, like writing faultlessly, or making a small calculation regarding how to make a dilution.

This is not pessimism, it is the truth as can be read on a daily basis over here.

I remember him in SA. Loved it. It was always a good day when got new issue in the mail. I remember the 1st article I read. I remember “The Subduction of the Lithosphere” and game and chaos theory.

My joke at the time: Everything I learned in 7th grade is wrong. Dinosaurs are warm-blooded, the continents move and chaos is ordered.

Perhaps it was these kinds of new ideas that contributed to the undermining of our traditions.

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