Rest In Peace Mathematician John Horton Conway has passed at the age of 82

[Husky_Khan]

Not going to pretend to realize I understand his impact on the field of mathematics or whatnot, but he invented the cellular automaton known as 'The Game of Life' as well as an entirely new series of numbers 'Surreal Numbers.'

Conway's Game of Life - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Surreal number - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

His worked also touched on things like numbers theory, geometry, game theory, physics and coding. He was also known for his eccentric personality along with his mathematical brilliance.

He died due to complications relating to a Covid-2019 infection.

John Conway Dies From Coronavirus

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[Deleted member 88]

No idea what any of what he did is. But Rest In Peace.

Mathematics is basically esoteric to me.

 

[Abhorsen]

Goddammit. Literally my favorite mathematician of all time. I remember being in 8th grade, trying (and mostly failing) to read his book On Numbers and Games (I got it from the library). I just wanted to figure out winning strategies for games, but it started with a weird definition of numbers, so I had to learn what a group was... the rest was history. I eventually bought the book, and still have it.

Some things Conway did:
He had one of the shortest papers of all time:


The game of life (shown by prior poster, but if you google 'Conway's game of life', there's an easter egg of it.

On Numbers and Games, a book where he defines the Surreal numbers, which are an extension of the reals where:
1/infinity is a number, and is distinct from 0 and 2/infinity.
Pi is just as hard to express as 1/3 and .2 .
And a bunch of other fun facts.

There are endless relatable and understandable things conway has done as well. A lot of his math can be explained to bright elementary schoolers or middle schoolers.