ABSTRACT
On October 21, 2004 Martin Gardner celebrated his ninetieth birthday. For 25 of his 90 years, he wrote “Mathematical Games and Recreations,” a monthly column for Scientifi c American magazine. His columns have inspired thousands of readers to delve more deeply into the large world of mathematics that he loved to explore and explain. His readers included amateur and professional mathematicians and a host of others from many other fi elds. Among his column correspondents were several distinguished mathematicians and scientists, including John Horton Conway , Persi Diaconis , Ron Graham , Douglas Hofstadter , Richard Guy , Don Knuth , Sol Golomb , Roger Penrose , and many more.
