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Raymond Smullyan dies at 97
February 11, 2017
From The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/11/u...e-creator.html
Raymond Merrill Smullyan was born in Far Rockaway, Queens, on May 25, 1919. His father, Isidore, was a businessman; his mother, the former Rosina Freedman, a homemaker.
His education was peripatetic and eclectic. He attended both Pacific University and Reed College in Oregon, then studied mathematics and logic on his own. He learned magic. He created chess puzzles that were more concerned about moves that had been made than the ones that should be made.
________
(Wikipedia) He earned a B.Sc. from the University of Chicago in 1955 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1959. He is one of the many logicians to have studied under Alonzo Church.
Smullyan is the author of many books on recreational mathematics and recreational logic. Most notably, one is titled What Is the Name of This Book?
He was also a character. With his long white hair and beard, Professor Smullyan resembled Ian McKellen’s wizard, Gandalf, from the “Lord of the Rings” film series. He was lanky, hated exercise and loved steak and eggs. He studied Eastern religion. He told corny jokes and performed close-up magic to anyone near him. He played the piano with passion and talent into his 90s. (A career in music had been derailed by tendinitis when he was a young man.)
He died on Monday, February 6, in Hudson, N.Y. He was 97.
In two of his books, he explored retrograde analysis in chess:
The chess mysteries of the Arabian knights, Knopf 1981
The chess mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, Hutchinson 1980
And there is mention of chess in:
The riddle of Scheherazade and other amazing puzzles, ancient & modern, Harcourt Brace 1997
Some interesting memoirs: a paradoxical life, Thinkers’ Press 2002
He was mentioned during the commentary on Round Three of Gibraltar this year as recorded in ChessTalk.
http://forum.chesstalk.com/showthrea...light=smullyan
See also:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mathematici...ead-97-1605912
February 11, 2017
From The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/11/u...e-creator.html
Raymond Merrill Smullyan was born in Far Rockaway, Queens, on May 25, 1919. His father, Isidore, was a businessman; his mother, the former Rosina Freedman, a homemaker.
His education was peripatetic and eclectic. He attended both Pacific University and Reed College in Oregon, then studied mathematics and logic on his own. He learned magic. He created chess puzzles that were more concerned about moves that had been made than the ones that should be made.
________
(Wikipedia) He earned a B.Sc. from the University of Chicago in 1955 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1959. He is one of the many logicians to have studied under Alonzo Church.
Smullyan is the author of many books on recreational mathematics and recreational logic. Most notably, one is titled What Is the Name of This Book?
He was also a character. With his long white hair and beard, Professor Smullyan resembled Ian McKellen’s wizard, Gandalf, from the “Lord of the Rings” film series. He was lanky, hated exercise and loved steak and eggs. He studied Eastern religion. He told corny jokes and performed close-up magic to anyone near him. He played the piano with passion and talent into his 90s. (A career in music had been derailed by tendinitis when he was a young man.)
He died on Monday, February 6, in Hudson, N.Y. He was 97.
In two of his books, he explored retrograde analysis in chess:
The chess mysteries of the Arabian knights, Knopf 1981
The chess mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, Hutchinson 1980
And there is mention of chess in:
The riddle of Scheherazade and other amazing puzzles, ancient & modern, Harcourt Brace 1997
Some interesting memoirs: a paradoxical life, Thinkers’ Press 2002
He was mentioned during the commentary on Round Three of Gibraltar this year as recorded in ChessTalk.
http://forum.chesstalk.com/showthrea...light=smullyan
See also:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mathematici...ead-97-1605912