Genius At Play: The Curious Mind of John Horton Conway

This is a portrait of a mathematician, but one who was also a polymath among other characteristics. While he was born in Liverpool, Conway made his name in the environs of Cambridge and Princeton. Reading this book was like a science lesson, but one that was more enjoyable than most I've ever experienced.

Sizable and fascinating biography of the Cambridge/Princeton mathematician (group theorist and much else) best known to part of the general public for the Game of Life and the system of surreal numbers. The highly creative Conway (1937-) is also, evidently, highly disorganized. Roberts, who previously wrote a bio of Toronto geometer HSM Coxeter, agreeably structures her portrait of Conway around the years-long process she went through to gather the material, which includes lots of commentary from the subject himself.

Didn't care for it. The structure of the writing and narrative was convoluted at best. Too many side tangents, comments from Conway. Picked it up several times at different points, hoping for some improvement, but didn't really find it. Had to stop reading it.

Indeholder "Prologue", "Act I", " 1. Identity Elements", " 2. Dazzling New World", " 3. Gymnastics", " 4. Calculate the Stars", " 5. Nerdish Delights", " 6. The Vow", "Act II", " 7. Religion", " 8. Criteria of Virtue", " 9. Character Assassination", " 10. Snip, Clip, Prune, Lop", " 11. Dotto & Company", " 12. Truth Beauty, Beauty Truth.", "Act III", " 13. Mortality Flash", " 14. Optional Probability Fields", " 15. Lustration", " 16. Take It as Axiomatic", " 17. Humpty Dumpty's Prerogative", "Epilogue", "Appendix A. On Morley's Trisector Theorem", "Appendix B. The Lexicode Dictionary", "Appendix C. Surreally", "Author's Note", "Acknowledgements", "A Select Conway Bibliography", "Bibliography", "Notes", "Art Credits", "Index".

Glimrende show more biografi om John Horton Conway. Game of Life, Klassifikation af endelige grupper, The ATLAS, Penrose tiles - dart and kite -, Knudeteori. Elegante beviser, Rækken 1 - 11 - 21 - 1211 - ..., The Leech lattice, Fractran, Golay code, Moonshine, Surreal Numbers, hvordan man ser på et cykelspor hvilken vej cyklen kørte, et smukt bevis for Morleys teorem, Lexicode, Martin Gardner, Conways privatliv og triple bypass, osv.
Desuden er det et sjovt indblik i hans private liv og færden og i bibliografens problemer med at finde hoved og hale i Conways og andres erindringer om diverse episoder og hændelser.
Jeg kan ikke få appendixet om Lexicode til at give mening, for 111 + 1012 giver 1123, men det er ikke med i listen? Fractran er en virkelig skør måde at lave universelle beregninger på. Der er ikke så meget matematik, men en masse baggrund om hvordan han tænker og hvad han mener om fx The Monster og Moonshine. Meget underholdende, når man nu godt kan lide ham.

I 2020 fik han Covid-19 og døde. Jeg skriver det på Trumps regning. Her i 2025 er man lykkedes med et pudsigt projekt, nemlig at lave en model af et tetraeder, der kun har een stabil måde at ligge på. Faktisk er der to forskellige løsninger på problemet, men den ene kræver noget supertungt stof, der ikke findes i virkeligheden. På engelsk er det en self-righting tetrahedron, man er på jagt efter. Den oprindelige tanke om at det må være muligt går tilbage fra noget fra Conway og Guy i sin tid. show less