John Horton Conway - Game of 'Life'

[Valentin Albillo]

(04-13-2020 04:46 PM)John Keith Wrote:  Sad indeed. Richard K Guy also passed away last month. Conway and Guy were the co-authors of The Book of Numbers, one of my favorite references. The world of mathematics will be smaller without them.

Absolutely concur. I became aware of Mr. Conway and his "Game of Life" via Martin Gardner's books on recreational math, and programmed it in every computing device I could lie my hands on in every programming language known to me (including hand-assembled Z80 machine language for the Sinclair ZX81). I was delighted with the "Harvester" and awed at it being Turing-complete. Such delighful moments ...

Same with Mr. Guy and "The Book of Numbers", also a true marvelous piece of both serious and recreational math, I've read it a number of times and use it as a treasure trove for challenge and articles ideas.

Both gentlemen will be sorely missed. My condolences to their families and may them rest in peace.

V.