Back to Business

Monday August 23rd is the start of classes again at Berry College. We've been dormant on the blog for the summer, but with the beginning of the new semester it's time to get back to business.

One debt that I have to discharge now is to note the passing since my last post of one of my intellectual heroes, the great Martin Gardner (1914-2010). It is hard to describe the man in one word, but perhaps "polymath" is most appropriate. I wrote a post on his 95th birthday and discussed the influence that he had on me. A University of Chicago philosophy major, Gardner became the mathematics columnist for Scientific American and wrote prolifically on topics that included but also reached far beyond science, math, and philosophy. I especially appreciated his efforts to expose the frauds who founded and promoted various pseudo-scientific movements. Gardner was a much needed defender of reason and careful thinking. All should be grateful for his long and productive life.