Prize Recipient

Martin Gardiner
Journalist and Writer

Citation:

"For his popular columns and books on recreational mathematics which introduced generations of readers to the pleasures and uses of logical thinking; and for his columns and books which exposed pseudoscientific and antiscientific bunk and explained the scientific process to the general public."

Background:

Martin Gardiner received his BA from the University of Chicago in 1936. His career as a journalist and writer includes writing for the Tulsa Tribune, public relations staffer for the University of Chicago, contributing editor to the Humpty Dumpty's magazine from 1952 to 1962, and serving as a writer for the mathematical games department for Scientific American

Mr. Gardiner's skill in combining mathematics, science, philosophy and literature has produced over 30 unusual books of diverse natures. His first book, "In the Name of Science", was reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle (March 1, 1953) which noted: "Mr. Gardiner has written a highly critical and at times hilariously entertaining account of cults and fad sciences in various fields." Nearly twenty years later, Mr. Gardiner produced a "novel of ideas" that explored conflicting points of view in Protestant theology. A New York Times Book Review (December 23, 1973) published a critical review of Gardiner's The Flight of Peter Fromm and commented: "This is a brilliantly illuminating metaphysical novel that employs ideas as adversaries and translates them into human dilemmas."