Recently, I am translating a book with his preface. I take it with me every day and read a paragraph when I take the subway to and from work. On the opening day of the World Cup, I made an appointment with a friend at McDonald's to help me stay up late to watch the game. A friend of Peking University's Department of Mathematics flipped through the book and pointed to Martin's name on the back cover to tell me that Ma Gong died last month. I couldn't accept it, thinking it was a lie. I didn't give up until my friend found a webpage in my mobile phone to show me.
I first noticed martin gardner when I was in my third year of high school. At that time, I was so bored that I borrowed books about math games from the school library one by one. Two of them left a deep impression on me, one was an interesting math problem in Sam Lloyd, and the other was an unexpected math game such as hanging. Both books were written by Gardner, but I only read interesting questions and only vaguely remember the author's name.
After graduating from college, I went home to prepare for the postgraduate entrance examination next year. In order to practice English, find out various English books to read. One of them is Alice in Wonderland, which is a bilingual version I read when I was a child (I haven't seen the English half before). This is my favorite fairy tale book, with a large number of translations. After reading a few pages, I found the name martin gardner in the translation. After thinking about it, I realized that I had read two books by this man. It turned out that he had written an annotated book for this fairy tale.
Who is this person who studies math games and writes annotation books for fairy tales? I didn't know he was a master in the field of mathematical games until I searched online. When I was a child, many exquisite topics were borrowed from his masterpieces.
After that, I read his "Various Pseudosciences in the West" and "The Magic Number of Dr. Matrix". After finishing my master's degree, I have my own blog and wrote an article introducing him, which is called "Old Horse". Looking for a job after graduating from a master's degree, I submitted my resume to a popular science magazine, and the other party asked to attach an article about my own popular science. I screened the blog articles, and finally changed them to that one. I really went to work in that magazine.
Although I admire Martin, I never expected to have direct contact with him. I translated a book about intellectual toys for the first time six months ago. On the day I received this book, I just looked through it and found the words martin gardner printed on the back of the recommendation letter. If I wasn't working, I would probably jump up and cheer like Archimedes. I am honored to be in the same book as martin gardner's name.
The day after I learned of his death, I searched the Internet and found that less than 20 Chinese web pages reported it. Although known as one of the three American popular science writers in the second half of the 20th century, Martin's popularity in China is far less than that of the other two giants in the popular science circle, isaac asimov and carl sagan. I believe that even many people in the popular science circle will be stunned for a long time when they hear this name. In a few limited reports, Martin's achievements in popularizing mathematical knowledge and criticizing pseudoscience are often emphasized, such as how many people have become mathematicians under his influence. Putting mathematics and games together seems out of reach in China. In our dictionary, "playing" is still not elegant, so we must find a high-sounding practical reason (popularizing some knowledge and cultivating some abilities) to keep up the facade. I don't know how Martin would feel if he knew that his lifelong math game had turned into evil Olympiad Education.
Martin is famous for his modesty. Because his name sounds like the word "gardener" in English, he is nicknamed "Mathematical Gardener" (this title is in line with our language habits). Although he has been in charge of the mathematical game column of Scientific American for a quarter of a century, he admits that the real topic he created can actually be indexed by hand, and the rest is thanks to the readers.
Martin's column is like a bridge, connecting people who like math games. Among the people who often read this column, there are "well-trained people" such as university professors and students majoring in mathematics, but more people are ordinary people who like to study graphic cutting after work, such as postal workers without professional education. For more than 20 years, countless people who have never met each other and are far away from the other side of the ocean have known each other and even become friends. For them, Martin is not a noble master, but a true friend. Dr. Matrix's Magic Numbers and Math Gardner, written by a friend for his birthday, recorded many examples of mathematicians and math game enthusiasts spoofing Martin with homemade puzzles. Martin has won numerous honors in his life, but I think this is the most appropriate praise for him.
In English, math games, crossword puzzles and intellectual toys are collectively called "puzzles". Martin is also interested in other puzzles. He is closely related to Will Shu Ci, a crossword puzzle master, and Jerry Slocombe, an intellectual toy expert. He also wrote an annotated version of Alice in Wonderland. Carol, the original author, is a math teacher, and institutional metaphors composed of crossword puzzles can be found everywhere in the book. I had hoped to contribute to China's version of Alice in Wonderland, but Martin and I became friends forever.
Martin's death marks that the "heroic era" in which international masters in the field of popular science have come forth in large numbers has gradually faded away. There is an incisive eulogy in the preface of Mathematics Gardner: "In the temple of mathematics, there are great gods such as Euclid, Descartes and Newton. Although he is not qualified to accompany the last seat, he is indispensable as the patron saint standing at the gate of the temple. " Mr. Smith passed away, and it is meaningless to express my gratitude to him in any words. I just want to say: thank you, Martin.