I still have the letters I received from Martin. In an article on polyhexes and polyaboloes reprinted in Mathematical Magic Show, Martin had written about tetraboloes, "Rectangles with a side of 1h are clearly impossible except, of course, for the 1h-by-1h." He must have been astonished when I pointed out to him that 1h X 3h and 1h X 4h rectangles could be constructed. (Why did nobody else ever tell him in all the years before I did?) I don't know how his death will affect the reprinting of his fifteen Mathematical Games collections by the Cambridge University Press. I know that Martin intended including further updated material and corrections for the entire series but don't know how much of the updating he has written for it. The first three books have already been published, and the Cambridge site (http://www.cambridge.org/series/sSeries.asp?code=NGML) shows the cover art for the fourth book in the series (Knots and Borromean Rings, Rep-Tiles, and Eight Queens). See also: http://www.richarddawkins.net/articles/472686-martin-gardner-rest-in-peace-g...

From: "George W. Hart"<george@georgehart.com>

(Not fun.)

It is with great sadness that I report Martin Gardner died today.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/05/22/martin-gardner-191...

When I visited him last October in Norman, OK, he was sharp, alert, and happy to offer a list of great ideas he thought would be good for the Museum of Mathematics. He demonstrated some card tricks, calculator tricks, and a rope illusion. He told a number of interesting stories about his life and said he was starting to work on his autobiography --- a book project which he predicted would take three years to complete. I thought that it took enormous vision to start a three-year project at the age of 95 and am sad that it will never be finished.

George Hart http://momath.org http://georgehart.com