#4 – Martin Gardner Muses [2/13/1996]
Gathering For Gardner II, Atlanta, Georgia:
On January 18th to the 21st a group of leading magicians, mathematicians and puzzle inventors descended on Atlanta to pay tribute to Martin Gardner. Mr. Gardner was the writer of Mathematical Games, a very popular column which ran for 25 years (1957-1981) in the Scientific American. Many of the mathematicians there credited him for getting them involved in the math field. The puzzle inventors also grew-up reading this column and attribute their career to him. Of course, his many contributions to the art of magic touched us all as well. His gigantic tome, The Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic, is one of the best books on magic you could ever study.
Martin Gardner at Gathering For Gardner II.
This event was one big party. Everyone was friendly and we all had something in common. The speakers covered a wide range of subjects (as you can see below) some were fascinating some were entertaining and some were so complicated I had no clue as to what they were talking about — but all were educational. By the list of performers you can see that all the shows were very strong.
Everyone attending was requested to bring 100 copies of a puzzle, magic trick etc… All of these were sorted and everyone walked away with a bag full of souvenirs — great stuff and a great idea.
The event was organized by Tom Rodgers with help from Mark Setteducati, and Tyler Barrett.
Clockwise from front-center: Mel Stover, Charlie Randall, Max Maven, Bill Kalush, Scot Morris, Harry Eng, Jerry Andrus and Ray Hyman.
Thursday January 18th:
All-day party at the home of Tom Rodgers. Lots of great food, an incredible collection of puzzles, dictionaries and baking tins. After the party we went to see a special dance show by Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern with Scott Kim called Dances For The Mind’s Eye. The finale of the evening was a preview of a new documentary on Martin Gardner hosted by David Suzuki, for Canadian television which will air in the U.S. on A&E later in the year. The evening was Emceed by James Randi.
Friday January 19th:
Speakers: Edward Hordern, The history of puzzles. David Singmaster, The Monkey and the Coconut problem. Adrian Fisher, Mazes and Tessellations. Ray Hyman, Stargate (The use of psychics by the CIA). Max Maven, Magic tricks with the Gilbreath Principle. Doris Schattschneider, Escher Kaliedocycles. Stephen Turner, Escher presentation and film. Frank Harary, Math games. Robert Wainwright, The game of life and tiling squares. Bob Friedhoffer, Science magic show.
Evening Show performers: The Amazing Randi, Jerry Andrus, Daryl, Bob Neale, Bob Friedhoffer, Howie Schwartzman, Dan Garrett.
Saturday January 20th:
Speakers: Nob Yoshigahara, Toporigami. Bob Neale, Hypercard ideas. John Conway, New human calender. Tim Rowett, Ephemera and gadgets. Tom Bacciei, Random dot stereograms. Jerry Farrell, The Game of Pyramids. Edwin Beraalkamp, The Game Go. Dick Hess, Kotani’s Ant Problem. Bill Cutler, Block packing jambalaya. Lou Kaufman, Knots and knot theory. Persi Diaconis, Card trick using the deBruijn Sequences.
Close-Up Show performers: Meir Yedid, Jay Marshall, John Miller, Dan Garrett, Jerry Andrus, Ken Fletcher, Daryl, Lennart Green.
Evening Show Performers: Jay Marshall, Ken Knolten, Scott Kim & a group of assistants, Max Maven, Arthur Benjamin.
Meir Yedid and Rick Airby display an amazing Chinese Rings Puzzle.
Sunday January 21st:
Speakers: Solomon Golomb, Recent developments on Polyominoes, Jerry Slocum, Puzzle cards (by Sam Lloyd), Scot Morris, Latest gadgets. Rick Airby, Wire puzzles. (Pictured here is one of his puzzles. What makes this simple puzzle amazing is that it will take 6.9 times 10 to the 42nd power moves to solve. To put it into perspective: If you could do one move per second [which is impossible] it would take you 21 decillion years to finish [that’s 21 followed by 33 zeros!]. So if you have some free time on your hands and want to buy one — let me know.) Nick Baxter, Int’l Puzzle Competition. Stan Isaacs, Exploring math through puzzles. Harry Nelson, Solving domino puzzles.
Twisting Copperfield’s Arm:
Monday night, 2/12/96, on the Jay Leno Show, David Copperfield killed with the Twisting Arm Illusion. If you don’t own it get all of the real work from me.
Apocalypse Scoop:
Since I layout Harry Lorayne’s Apocalypse I am the first to know what goes into each issue. Now you can have that same information. The March 1996 issue contains: David Neighbors’ WOW! (Coins), Joe Rindfleisch’s Oh, That Magnetic Ace Of Spades (Cards), Doug Edwards’ “Visual” In-Hand False Cut (Cards), Bruce Colton’s Rubber Band Through Wrist (Rubber bands), Tom Dougherty’s Nervous Ace & Hartman Force (Cards), Gene Maze’s Hello Stranger (Cards), and Alan Jackson’s Diabolical Divisors (Math). Plus: Ellipses(…).
New! New! New!
While in Atlanta I met Bob Page who showed me this great item that I have been using ever since. By special arrangement with Mr. Page this is now available directly from me.Bob Page’s Business Card Paradox.
