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Home , Barry Karr, James Arthur Ray, Martin Gardner, Project Alpha, Ray Hyman

SI Sept/Oct pgs_SI MJ 2010 7/22/10 4:41 PM Page 28

MARTIN GARDNER 1914—2010

A Tribute and Celebration

Martin Gardner, the polymath writer, critic, and column appears on page 10.) Throughout his life, and mind, we here present invited tributes from a skeptic who is widely regarded as the father of Gardner wrote knowledgeably about an astonish- number of noted skeptics and scholars. We begin modern , died May 22, 2010, in Norman, ing range of topics with a combination of clarity, with two of his closest friends and colleagues, Ray , at the age of ninety-five. He helped wit, and critical intelligence that delighted readers Hyman and . Like him, they were found- found our Com mittee for Skeptical Inquiry (then worldwide. Those who knew him regarded him as ing fellows of CSICOP and original and longtime members of its executive council. CSICOP) and wrote for this magazine since its a dear friend, a modest man, and a national intel- inception. (His final “Notes of a Fringe Watcher” lectual treasure. In a celebration of his life, writings, —The Editor

Martin Gardner: In the Name of Science (1952). The book was re-issued in 1957, with some updat- A Polymath to the Nth Power ing, under the title Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. It serves as the proto- type for modern skeptical criticism. From 1958 to 1961, while I was doing phoned me on May 17, supported by the evidence. He felt that psychological research for General Elec- 2010. He told me he recently spoke his background as a magician enabled tric, I lived in Hartsdale, about twenty- with Martin Gardner by phone. Among him to explain how many alleged psy- five miles from Martin Gardner’s home other things, they had talked about me. chic occurrences were due to trickery or on Euclid Avenue in Hastings-on-the- He also said that Martin sounded fine mundane causes. Hudson, New York. During this period and seemed to be as cognitively sharp as I first met Martin in 1950 at the my wife and I would get together with always. I had not spoken with Martin home of Bruce Elliot in Greenwich Martin and his wife, Charlotte, for din- for quite a while. I made a note on my Village in New York. Bruce published a ner. I also was able to visit and talk with calendar to call him on Saturday, May 22. magazine on , The Phoenix, and him about our mutual interests. On that Saturday, I was about to call wrote several books about magic. Every When I moved to Oregon in 1961 to Martin when I got a phone call from Saturday he hosted a gathering for magi- work at the , Martin Martin’s son, James. James told me that cians from New York or who happened phoned and told him I had his father had passed away a few moments to be in the vicinity. I was twenty-one moved into his neighborhood. He sug- earlier. years old when I was invited to attend. gested that Jerry contact me. Jerry did and Many persons—too many—would This was the first time I met many we became close friends until Jerry’s seek mystical meaning in this “coinci- celebrity magicians such as , unfortunate death in dence.” Martin, of course, devoted Jay Marshall, and Martin Gardner. August 2007. Martin much of his life to teaching us how eas- Martin and I became good friends. I and Jerry are the two ily our minds create meaning out of post knew him as a magician, a creator of most impressive indi- hoc juxtapositions of random events. magic effects, and a writer of excellent viduals I have ever Although he thought that most believers books on magic. In addition, we shared known. Both were es - were impervious to reason, he perse- an interest in investigating and challeng- sentially self-taught in vered in his quest to show that most, if ing claims. Soon after our magic, , sci- not all, paranormal claims cannot be first meeting, Martin published his classic ence, and other areas.

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You can gain some insights into the ates from speed reading classes who made it clear that nothing that this range and impact of Martin’s productive claim to be reading 1,000 or more alleged did had anything to do life by reading the many obituaries that words per minute are actually skipping with the paranormal. Soon after that, have appeared online. In the remaining over large chunks of text by exploiting Randi observed Geller at the offices of few lines at my disposal, I will discuss redundancy. When they are given text to Time magazine in New York. He, too, only a couple of my many personal sto- read from domains with which they are saw through Geller’s pretensions. ries involving this Renaissance man. unfamiliar, their reading drops to the I have always been interested in how same speed as those who have never In 1973, Randi phoned me from Port - productive individuals organize their taken a special course. land, Oregon. He was touring with Alice lives and manage their data. Soon after Cooper and asked me to travel from Martin’s operation for cataracts, I asked Eugene to Portland to meet him. While I him how he managed to read and review was in Portland, Randi reviewed our so many books while continuing his pro - experiences with Geller and suggested digious literary output and maintaining that we get together with Martin Gardner a colossal correspondence. Martin told and form a group to counter false claims me that, in most cases, he did not actu- of the paranormal. He suggested we call ally read the books he reviewed. Instead, he simply scanned the index, which pro- the group SIR (Sanity in Research), which vided all the information he needed for evoked the acronym SRI. his review. Randi and I soon afterwards spent a I was incredulous at first, but on sec- day with Martin at his home in Hastings- ond thought I realized that this was con- on-Hudson preparing a detailed docu- sistent with my research on information ment of the goals and hopes for our new theory and redundancy. I had already group. In 1976, SIR joined forces with discovered that I could scan the indices , who was already publishing of textbooks in statistics, perception, skeptical articles in The Humanist, which and cognitive psychology and know all I needed to know about how the book he edited at that time. The resulting orga- handled its topic. For example, by not- Martin not only wrote the seminal nization became known as CSICOP ing the topics the author listed and, textbook for the modern skeptical (now CSI), and the contemporary skepti- more importantly, the ones she did not, movement, but he was also central to cal movement was born. I could confidently guess her stance on the actual founding of the movement. Ray Hyman is emeritus professor of psychol- various issues. This was because I In December 1972, I was sent by the already knew these areas quite well. De fense Department to observe Uri ogy at the University of Oregon. An expert in Martin’s ability to exploit redundancy Geller and the researchers at the the psychology of self-deception, he is a induced me to conduct research on Stanford Research Institute (SRI). My founding fellow of CSICOP and founding speed reading. I discovered that gradu- report, which I shared with Martin, member of the CSICOP executive council.

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admiration for the Alice stories by Lewis Martin Gardner Has Left Us Carroll. He pored over every sentence JAMES RANDI that Carroll had constructed and ex - tracted from them every sort of nuance he could, and of course he recorded his Where to begin? I’ve really no idea Arthur C. Clarke, and maybe a magician observations in writing—to the delight of where or exactly when I first met Martin colleague of mine, since his writings so his many, many fans over the years and Gardner. I believe our first meeting frequently touched on the sort of exper- around the globe. Martin’s spectrum of occurred in the offices of Scientific tise that only such a trio could summon interest was very broad. His coterie of American magazine more than six up. They were appropriately amazed and friends included major professional magi- decades ago, but it seems that I have edified when I assured them that this cians, mathematicians of every sort, always known him. He became such a paragon was actually a single person, a philosophers, a few scoundrels, and a suf- fixture in my life, such a dependable real human being who was quite as ficient variety of weirdos to round out his part of my world. I was so very accus- accomplished as he ap peared to be. perception of the world. As an atheist tomed to picking up the telephone to Another matter on which I was myself, I admit that I was somewhat sur- call him or answering a call from him queried from time to time was whether prised that this man was a deist. When I that always resulted in an improvement or not Martin actually had academic inquired about this apparent lapse of of my knowledge of the universe. degrees in mathematics—which he did logic, he calmly informed me that he was not. As he once ex- well aware the atheists had a much better pressed it to me, after argument than he did and that in fact he beginning his column had no supporting evidence for his accep- in tance of a deity. It simply made him “feel (SA), he sort of learned more comfortable,” and knowing Martin it as he went along. as I did, I merely accepted that fact and And I must say that I somewhat celebrated it. Anything that believe that was true. improved Martin’s life improved mine. He always ex pressed his At our next Amaz!ng Meeting in July, delight at something we of the James Randi Educational Foun- that he had just stum- dation will certainly not hold any sort of bled upon or that had memorial to Martin Gardner. That would occurred to his agile have embarrassed him hugely, I’m quite mind as he applied it to sure. His son Jim, calling me to announce a problem at hand. his father’s demise, added that the will he Indeed, “delight” was a major characteristic of left behind specified that there be no this man’s makeup. funeral and that cremation would be pre- That enthusiasm cer- ferred. That’s my Martin, and I expected tainly carried over into no less. No, at the July conference we will his books and his SA celebrate the existence of this fine gentle- column. He was con- man, one of my giants, a huge intellect, a stantly celebrating dis- prolific author, and a caring, responsible, Martin Gardner (front) and James Randi at the very first CSICOP meeting, coveries, expanding on citizen of the world. If we can manage it, August 1977 in . them, and looking for we’ll have balloons and dancing girls— new ways to communi- which would have titillated Mr. Gardner, Traveling the world, as I have done cate them to the public—and especially to I guarantee you. most of my life, I’ve found that some young people. He was never happier than Yes, he’s gone away, but his wise words academics doubt that I actually knew when he was in the company of kids to and his great love for reason and compas- this legendary figure in person. I recall whom he would present a brain teaser, sion will remain with us forever. I loved that when I delivered a lecture to the sys- followed by the “Aha!” phase in which he him dearly, but I leave him to the ages. tems engineers of IBM many years ago, a would provide an answer—usually totally talk during which I referred to Martin, I unexpected—that made everything quite Magician, investigator, and writer James was besieged by a group from the audi- clear. Randi is founder of the James Randi ence who asked me to settle whether That lucidity of his work made him a Educational Foundation. Randi was an origi- Martin was an actual individual or per- great teacher. His weaving of a story nal member of the CSICOP executive council haps an amalgamation of , might have been inspired by his total and is a founding fellow.

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A Tribute and Celebration

such as in his book Urantia: The Great Martin Gardner’s Contributions Cult Mystery (1995, revised 2008). Martin to the World of Books told me that he maintained extensive clip- pings on a wide range of topics and so PAUL KURTZ could bring empirical facts to bear to expose the beliefs held. Martin Gardner was a unique man of let- An important book by Martin was ters, a science writer who not only wrote Great Essays in Science (1994), which columns for Scientific American and the includ ed thirty-one of SKEPTICAL INQUIRER but who was a pro- some of the best writ- lific author of over seventy books! Perhaps ings in science over the his reputation in the past 100 years. These long run will depend in clud ed thought-pro- on the provocative voking contributions books that he au - that represented the thored over the years. peak of accomplish- Al though we may be ments in science. at “the beginning of Prometheus also published a novel by the end of the Age of Martin called The Flight of Peter Fromm Books” (alas!), Gard - (1994), which seemed to echo his own ner stands out as a religious beliefs. I was curious that Martin heroic author whose books on pseudo- himself clung to his religious faith in , science we hope will be read in the future somewhat apologetically. “I can’t prove with relish and delight—as reminders of it,” he seemed to say, “but I am attached how easy it is to be deceived. to it.” I found this statement rather I know Martin Gardner best as a book Martin Gardner (right) talking with Paul Kurtz at charming, if only because it contradicts author; published at 1989’s CSICOP Executive Council meeting in Tampa, doctrinaire atheists who insist that any least twenty-five of his books. Several of Florida. Gardner rarely attended meetings, and his true skeptic must be an atheist. these were new editions of books previ- legendary elusiveness seems evident even here, with Gardner’s last new book with Prome - his back mostly to the camera. ously published. I founded Pro metheus theus was The Jinn from Hyperspace and in 1969, and it has devoted more atten- mon sense.” It was a nominee for a Other Scribblings—Both Serious and tion than any other press to publishing national book award. So his career with Whimsical (2007). New Scientist re - books on scientific skepticism and the Prometheus got off to a rousing start. We viewed the book by paranormal. Martin was tickled pink that would hear from him almost biweekly stating that it was Prometheus Books was willing to take on thereafter, as he kept proposing books “clear, closely argued, the paranormalists. and then saw them through the editorial and entertaining . .. I first got to know Martin when I process until publication. Martin had a a fascinating insight founded the modern skeptics movement keen intelligence and a sharp wit, which in to the breadth of (in the guise of CSICOP, later CSI), so he used with consummate skill. in terest and fecun- to speak, and invited him to the inau- We were intrigued with the titles that dity of the man now gural meeting at the State University of he came up with, such as On the Wild in his nineties.” New York at Buffalo on April 30, 1976. Side (hardcover 1992, paperback 2004), To which I say I was delighted when he accepted and which dealt with the big bang, ESP, the amen about all of Gardner’s books, an even more so when he appeared. His Beast 666, levitation, rainmaking, inexhaustible treasury of insight and publishing romance with Prometheus trance-channeling, séances, ghosts, and wisdom. Martin Gardner played a key began a few years later. He shared with more. Another one was How Not to Test role in his time as a keen advocate of sci- us a devotion to books—the idea that a Psychic (1989). (Incidentally, the com- ence, a luminary in the constellation of books should be cherished as virtually plete list of Martin Gardner’s books still skeptics. He will be sorely missed. “sacred” because of their enduring con- available from Prometheus Books may Paul Kurtz is the founder of the Com mittee tributions to culture. be read online.) for Skeptical Inquiry, the Coun cil for Secular Martin’s first book with Prometheus It was amazing to me how Martin Humanism, the , and was Science: Good, Bad and Bogus was able to delve into what many con- Prometheus Books. He is emeritus professor (1981). described it sidered nutty claims. He took them seri- of philosophy, State Uni versity of New York at as “a valuable book . . . an ally of com- ously and made them seem even nuttier, Buffalo.

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ment, I was delighted that I would rub We Have Lost an Icon shoulders with the man himself, for he was one of the founders of CSICOP and a member of its executive council. I soon learned, however, that he was averse to It takes a special kind of person to write apparent paucity of critical on travel and did not usually attend council insightfully about the subject? I dug out Fads and Fallacies in meetings. I therefore had to wait to meet and mathematics—and literature and reli- the Name of Science and let Martin intro- him until a meeting was held in , gion and and conjuring duce me to the subject. That simple which was near enough to his home at the and philosophy. And it takes a very special beginning unexpectedly led me into time that he did indeed attend. Martin kind of person to be able to do so in a way decades of critical commentary and the man proved to be as impressive as that is comprehensible, enlightening, debate with regard to . Martin the icon. He was gentle, intelli- entertaining to the intelligent layperson, Later on, as a young psychology pro- gent, witty, modest, curious, and filled and worthy of the respect of experts. Such fessor, I was researching how people with creative energy and imagination. A a rare person was Martin Gardner, and his maintain their beliefs in the face of con- longtime fan such as I could not avoid achievements are all the more impressive tradictory evidence. I wanted a demon- feeling a little star-struck, although it was given that he was largely self-taught and stration that would confront subjects with very clear that stardom was the last thing without advanced degrees in physics, ostensible evidence that something they that he wanted. I remember our first con- mathematics, literature, or philosophy. held to be absolutely true was apparently versation very well: he was a major con- I knew Martin Gardner the icon rather false. Where to begin? I turned to Martin tributor to the conjuring literature, and well, and I owe him a considerable debt Gardner once again: I began re-reading when he learned that I was an amateur for what I have learned from him over the some of his books and articles and soon magician, he im mediately and graciously years. When I was an undergraduate came across the perfect vehicle for my responded by sharing with me a new physics student, my classmates and I research—a , invented a century magical effect that he had just invented. I avidly devoured his “Mathematical earlier by Sam Lloyd but preserved and was struck by his warmth, his lack of pre- Games” column in Scien tific American, analyzed by Gardner, in which a piece of tense, and his excitement about sharing along with his published collections of paper of a certain area, when cut into new ideas. mathematical and enigmas and pieces and the pieces rearranged, appears As I reminisce, I see that Martin has his other books on science and mathe- quite clearly to have gained in area. This had an important influence on me—as he matics. He helped make mathematics and was ideal for my purpose, for psycholo- no doubt has had upon countless others physics delightful to pursue. Later on, gists had long believed that all of us who have been devoted to his scholar- when I switched disciplines and became a acquire in childhood a firm belief in “con- ship—for a very long time. Whether as graduate student in psychology, I turned servation of area,” so that we “know” that Martin the icon or Martin the man, he has to his writings once again when I was area cannot be changed by the re arrange - enriched our lives. We shall all miss him. asked—nay, virtually ordered—by the ment of component parts. department chair to prepare a critical I had always been very impressed by James Alcock is professor of psychology at examination of Martin Gardner the icon, but I was fortu- Glendon College, York University, Toronto, and (ESP) for presentation to undergraduate nate enough to be able to meet Martin author of such books as Parapsy chology: students who were clamoring for such a Gardner the man. This came about when Science or Magic? He is a founding CSICOP fel- talk. I knew nothing of the subject at the I was made a member of the CSICOP low and became a member of the executive time; so where was I to begin, given the executive council. With this ap point - council in 1983.

powers. The other two subjects were like- A World Treasure wise attracting a lot of media and popu- lar interest. We had done our best to treat them carefully and with some skepti- cism, but except for the one on Geller, One day back in 1974, when I was edi- gift in graduate school. I loved it. Mar- Martin didn’t think we’d done a particu- tor of Science News in Washington, DC, tin’s letter gently but firmly criticized us larly good job and was worried we’d put the mail brought a letter from Martin for a of three articles we had run aside our usual scientific standards by Gardner. I knew of him, of course, as the over a period of months dealing with writing about them at all. “Mathematical Games” columnist in Sci - some matters: , I wasn’t at all offended by his criti- entific American and as author of the Kirlian photography, and Transcendental cism; in fact, I welcomed it. I wrote him seminal work about pseudoscience and Meditation. Readers had requested the back. I told him science writers and edi- crackpots, Fads and Fallacies in the Name articles. This was the heyday of Geller’s tors like me had few resources for check- of Science. I’d had a copy of that fascinat- then-rising popularity, and Geller had ing the validity of these kinds of claims. I ing book since a friend gave it to me as a some (naive) scientists vouching for his told him we needed people like him who

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A Tribute and Celebration

had the necessary critical perspective and which he and I later renamed “Notes of a Jean Houston, Doug Henning, and information to help us. Some sort of Fringe Watcher”) ap peared in every issue Phillip Johnson to maverick Cornell group of scientific experts was needed to of SI from Sum mer 1983 to January/Feb - astronomer Tommy Gold (twice); and give us that kind of help. ruary 2002. He recently resumed it on an everything from James Randi’s Project So it was perhaps not surprising that in irregular basis, and his last one, mailed to Alpha (his first SI topic) to weird water, the spring of 1976 I found myself covering me May 12, ten days before his death, , , urine therapy, for Science News an unusual conference on appears on page 10. psychic astronomy, the Klingon language, “The New Irrationalisms: Pseudo science Martin was an editor’s delight. His and the humorous yet profound question and Anti-Science” at the brand new columns always arrived early, usually of whether Adam and Eve had navels. SUNY Buffalo campus, at which philoso- weeks ahead of deadline. Sometimes he Every few years he would collect the SI pher Paul Kurtz an nounced the creation would check with me in advance about a col umns, together with a few reviews and of the Com mittee for the Scientific possible subject; more typically he just essays published elsewhere, in a new Investigation of Claims of the Para - mailed in a new column, surprising me book. The first were The : Notes normal. It was exactly what I had asked for. My subsequent article for Science News—our cover pictured a small knight- like skeptic with only a sword of reason challenging a giant multi-headed dragon of pseudoscience (May 29, 1976)—stim- ulated more reader response than any other subject we had ever written about, which told me that this was a rich topic meriting much further examination. The nicest and most unexpected letter I re - ceived—I just now rediscovered it in my archives of those early events—was from Martin Gardner. He thanked me for the article, praised its accuracy, and called it a “wind of fresh air, long overdue.” One year later I was an invited guest and speaker at the first meeting of the CSICOP Executive Council, held at the Martin Gardner (with glasses) is at back left in this historic photo of the first CSICOP meeting, in August 1977 in New York City. From left are Lee Nisbet, Ray Hyman, James Randi, Gardner, and (at end of table) Paul Kurtz. old Biltmore Hotel in New York City (CSICOP archives) with Paul Kurtz, Ray Hyman, Phil Klass, and others including Martin Gardner with the topic. A new one’s arrival was of a Fringe Watcher and On the Wild Side. himself, to my delight. The next day I was always the high point of my day. They The latest three are Are Universes Thicker asked to join the organization as editor of were clear, concise, involving, revealing, Than Black berries? (2003), The Jinn from its new magazine (then called The Zetetic, knowledgeable, relevant, and usually Hyperspace (2008), and When You Were a renamed the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER the witty—the product of a lively, extraordi- Tadpole and I Was a Fish (2009). next year). So Martin Gard ner was not narily well-informed, unique mind. His On September 11, 2001 (yes, that only my introduction to any kind of sys- columns were substantive but at the same same terrible day), I opened a letter from tematic skepticism and one of my early time eminently readable. He typed them Martin that I had dreaded recieving. His encouragers, but he was also there when I double-spaced on an electric typewriter, beloved wife, Charlotte, had died earlier actually joined the effort. and the newspaperman in him (which he of a stroke, and he was getting two Over the ensuing three-plus decades, it had once been for awhile after studying columns to me quickly because he knew was my—and our readers’—pleasure to philosophy at the Uni versity of Chicago) he would soon go into a depression over have Martin Gardner write regularly for carefully corrected any typos or made her loss and be unable to write any more. SI. At first he wrote only occasional short short word changes with black ballpoint And, besides, he was eighty-seven. “I’ve articles and reviews. When he retired his pen. Also in the newspaper tradition, he had a long run,” he ended, “and doing the Scientific American column after thirty revised sections by cutting and pasting, column has been a great pleasure.” It was years, I wrote and asked if he’d like to con- which was always done impeccably. I sel- a sad day for all of us. But in 2005 I saw sider writing a regular column for SI on dom had to do any real editing. a new book review he had published else- pseudoscience and fringe science. I was Over the years his columns covered where, and I wrote and invited him to delighted when he agreed. Let’s give it a everyone from Russell Targ, Margaret once again write for SI if he felt he could. try, he answered, and see how it goes. Mead, Shirley MacLaine, Arthur Koest ler, His first was a two-article series on “The That column (“Notes of a Psi-Watcher,” Rupert Sheldrake, Marianne William son, Memory Wars.” We published it in our

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January/February and March/April 2006 conferences or spoke at public gatherings. other things—a brilliant and essentially issues. The first part appears in our latest Although this was a disappointment to self-taught intellectual who had the SI anthology, Science Under Siege (Pro - his myriad fans, I think he felt his time respect of the world’s greatest scientists metheus, 2009). was better spent doing his own kind of and academics. The grandfather of the He was prolific to the end. We had research, reading up on the latest claims of modern , he was an two columns from him during the pro- nonsense and crackpottery and buffoon- extraordinarily knowledgeable skeptic duction of our March/April 2010 issue. ery, and giving his unique critical perspec- with a uniquely whimsical and easily So we published the shorter one (about tive in clear, concise prose. But he was a amused mind who never took himself fatal guru James Arthur Ray) wonderful correspondent. Any letter to over-seriously, a great teacher through as his regular column and the longer one Martin drew an almost immediate type- example of what skepticism and skeptical (about and her gullibility written response. That was true of my inquiry are all about, a clear writer and on pseudo-medical matters) as an article. experience, and I have heard the same thinker, a peerless critic of nonsense, and Perhaps surprising for such a towering from others. His letters were always a steadfast advocate of science and rea- intellect, Martin was a modest and unas- friendly, direct, relevant, useful, and con- son—in short, a national treasure. No; suming man. Kindly, I would say. Ob - cise. He never wasted words. I have quite make that a world treasure. viously highly intelligent and a supremely a collection of such short letters from Kendrick Frazier is editor of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, clear thinker, he showed no sign of ego. A Martin and will always treasure them. a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, somewhat shy person, he never attended Martin Gardner was—among many and a longtime member of its executive council.

[March/April 1998], “I just play all the Martin Gardner’s Presence time, and am fortunate enough to get paid for it.”) In 1952 he published the first edition of his seminal book, now known to skep- Martin Gardner gone? Skeptics, say it isn’t so! SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Martin thought - tics worldwide as Fads and Fallacies in the From my earliest days as a magician, fully wrote a personal note of apprecia- Name of Science. The book proved to be skeptic, and investigative writer, Martin tion. the seed that blossomed into the modern was there—a presence as reassuring as And he thought of this same writer in skeptical movement. Gardner mentored a that of a beloved relative whom one could 2002 when he ended his long-running small group of skeptical activists—includ- always count on when needed but who column for SI (since 1983), “Notes of a ing magician James Randi, psychologist showed up in person only at the occa- Fringe Watcher.” Asked who he thought Ray Hyman, and several others—a group sional family reunion. Extraordinarily shy, might succeed him as leading columnist that in 1976 philosopher Paul Kurtz Martin avoided public appearances and for the magazine, he wrote, “Joe Nickell?” expanded and turned into an interna- didn’t lecture, grant media interviews, or I did not meet Martin in person until tional organization known as the Com - even accept awards when they were con- 1989 when he uncharacteristically ap - mittee for the Scientific Inves tigation of ditional on his appearing. peared at a CSICOP Executive Council Claims of the Paranormal (presently the Still, he was there. When I was trans- meeting in Tampa, Florida. He did not Committee for Skeptical Inquiry). forming myself into “Mendell the Men tal - usually wear ties, but someone got him Now Martin Gardner belongs to his- ist” as a young magician, Martin helpfully one for a formal group photo, and I was tory, to the pantheon of great intellects of pecked out on his typewriter a suggestion: able to give it a straightening just in time. the twentieth century—many of whom a mind-reading effect based on a principle At the 1996 Gathering for Gardner in were his admirers. A one-man think tank usually embodied in a close-up trick that Atlanta, Georgia, I brought a tape re- and the father of modern skepticism, he he very cleverly adapted to the stage. corder on behalf of Prometheus Books was a presence indeed. But he remains a Once, while I was working as a and recorded Martin in his hotel room presence, still alive in our minds, often researcher on a certain project, Martin reading the introduction to the audiotape smiling amid the juggled words, still invited me to visit his home in Hen - version of Science: Good, Bad and Bogus. teaching us to think—and to not forget to dersonville, North Carolina, and use his Time spent with him was precious. have fun. extensive personal library. (This I de - But it was as a writer that his presence clined, of course, for it would have been was most clearly felt. Despite his personal Joe Nickell is CSI’s senior research fellow and SI’s too great an imposition on too generous a shyness, his writings were those of a polar “Investigative Files” columnist. He is author of friend.) opposite: a bold, courageous critic, a pro- dozens of books about his skeptical investiga- When I reviewed an event held in lific correspondent, and a towering think - tions, such as Real or Fake, Adven tures in honor of the shy genius (who had made er and polymath. (Never mind that he Paranormal Investigation, Relics of the Christ, an exceedingly rare appearance) for the once said in an interview in these pages Real-Life X-Files, and Looking for a .

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The Humble Demigod realize that Sheaffer had his tongue in his cheek.” ROBERT SHEAFFER Later Gardner asked me if I wanted him to mail me his UFO files, saying I was aware of Martin Gardner at least plained that he was not an expert in that I would make better use of them since I was in high school in Illinois dur- mathematical puzzles or even a big fan than he could. I gladly accepted his ing the 1960s. I hung around as much of them; he just kept writing them up offer. The files were not extensive, con- as I could with friends who were inter- because that was what the readers of sisting mostly of clippings from newspa- ested in science and philosophy, and in Scientific Amer ican wanted, and typi- pers and magazines of the 1950s and such circles Gardner was already consid- cally he was just one puzzle ahead of the ’60s, but they contained a number of ered a demigod, at the very least. I for- magazine’s deadline. We also discussed hard-to-find items. I gratefully merged get exactly when I first read his Fads and the famous Cottingley Fairy photos, them with my own files. Fallacies in the Name of Science, but I which had fooled Sir Arthur Conan After Gardner moved to North Caro - was enormously impressed by it. He lina, I never saw him in person again. covered so many subjects in such detail, But we remained in touch on a number using such impeccable logic. (From a of subjects. I remember one time when current standpoint, what’s sobering is I contacted him for information about a how many of these fads and fallacies, specific cult. He said that the most know - thoroughly debunked almost sixty years ledgeable critic of that group was a certain ago, are still peddled, usually in nearly the same form!) individual who I had never heard of. “But I first met Gardner at one of the very be careful in your dealings with him,” early CSICOP functions in New York Gardner said. “He is obsessed with this City in 1977 or ’78. He was still living in cult, and he has a history of unstable New York at the time (appropriately on behavior.” I cautiously followed up on his Euclid Avenue in Hastings-on-Hudson). lead and discovered that, as usual, Martin CSICOP held several press con ferences to had gotten it exactly right. offer itself as a resource for responsible sci- Looking back on his career, perhaps ence journalism, as well as to de nounce the most surprising thing is not only the the often-uncritical coverage of “paranor- quantity and the quality of his output but mal” subjects in the media. This was long the fact that all of it was written without before CSICOP sponsored any public benefit of a computer or word processor! events. I had been working fairly closely I cannot write anything worth publishing with the noted UFO skeptic, the late unless I revise it three or four times. He Philip J. Klass, one of the founding fel- had an amazingly clear writing style: s o

lows of CSICOP, who helped me get t o

h everything Martin Gard ner wrote, no P involved with the organization and its m u

n matter how technical, is explained so

activities. Gardner attended all of the g a M

well that the average reader can under- /

CSICOP events in New York City but t t i w

r stand it, and every conclusion he reaches E

never spoke to the public or to the press. t t o i

l follows directly from the information he I remember being awestruck to have the l E opportunity to meet, and get to know, just set forth. this soft-spoken, extraordinary man. Doyle, and how at that time UFOlogist Some of the late founding fellows of I was even more awestruck when he Jerome Clark, then an editor at Fate CSICOP, whose names today are house- suggested we go down to the hotel magazine, was claiming the photos as hold words, had egos the size of Texas, if restaurant to have lunch together. I real- proof of some sort of “alternate reality.” not Alaska. This stands in enormous ized even at that time that this was an Gardner wrote about that in the notes contrast with Martin Gardner, a man for extraordinary privilege. I asked him and also in a postscript to his essay “The whom they all genuinely proclaimed about his training in mathematics, Irrelevance of Conan Doyle,” published their admiration yet was nonetheless expecting to hear him rattle off a list of in Science: Good, Bad and Bogus. He also one of the most sincere and likable studies and degrees. “I didn’t take much wrote there about my own hoax article human beings I have ever met. math,” he re plied. “I studied philoso- suggesting that the Cottingley Fairies phy.” I expected to hear that mathemat- were Winged UFO Occupants: “It was Robert Sheaffer is a fellow of CSI and has been ical puzzles flowed effortlessly out of his printed in Official UFO magazine, SI’s “Psychic Vibra tions” columnist for more brain, but that was also not so. He ex - October 1977, by editors too stupid to than thirty years.

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Exposing Crackpots A Martin Gardner Sampler and Charlatans ROBERT CARROLL It is not at all amusing when people are misled by scientific claptrap. Martin Gardner’s writings on the paranor- Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (Dover), p. 6 mal and pseudoscience profoundly influ- There is a type of self-styled scientist who can legitimately be called a . enced a generation of writers, in cluding It is not the novelty of his views or the neurotic motivation behind his work me, as can be seen by the many references that provide the grounds for calling him this. The grounds are the technical to his works in The Skeptic’s Dictionary. He criteria by which theories are evaluated. If a man persists in advancing views introduced us to a bizarre world populated that are contradicted by all available evidence, and which offer no reason- by the likes of L. Ron Hubbard, Rudolf able grounds for serious consideration, he will rightfully be dubbed a crank Steiner, , Bridey Murphy, and by colleagues. a host of other characters on the fringe. He taught us that crackpots and charlatans are Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, p. 8 dangerous. They should not be ignored but instead thoroughly exposed for what The modern pseudoscientist . . . stands entirely outside the closely integrated they are by detailed critical analysis. channels through which new ideas are closely integrated and evaluated. He My introduction to Gardner was works in isolation. through his Scientific American column Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, p. 11 on brain teasers and logic puzzles. When he gave up writing that brilliant and Even when a pseudoscientific theory is completely worthless there is a cer- much-missed column, Douglas Hofstad - tain educational value in refuting it. ter picked up the mantle. My obsession Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, p. 321 with Gardner’s writings on the paranormal and pseudoscience began after reading a I’m not sure why I enjoy debunking. Part of it surely is amusement over the fol- Hofstadter column titled “World Views in lies of true believers, and [it is] partly because attacking bogus science is a Collision: The SKEPTICAL INQUIRER versus painless way to learn good science. You have to know something about relativ- the National Inquirer.” Hofstadter’s pane- ity theory, for example, to know where opponents of Einstein go wrong. ... Another reason for debunking is that bad science contributes to the steady gyric to CSICOP and SI is one of the sem- dumbing down of our nation. Crude beliefs get transmitted to political leaders inal essays in the history of scientific skep- and the result is considerable damage to society. ticism. Every skeptic should keep it at the ready for inspiration and revitalization. “A Mind at Play,” interview in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, March/April 1998, p.36–37 (The essay, reprinted in Hof stadter’s Meta- Although “” is often considered a pejorative term, I do not find it so. magical Themas: Quest ing for the Essence of A major purpose of SKEPTICAL INQUIRER has always been to debunk the most out- Mind and Pattern, in cludes an account of rageous claims of bogus science. I make no apologies for being a debunker. I Gardner’s split with over believe it is the duty of both scientists and science writers to keep exposing how best to deal with Immanuel Veli- the errors of bad science. kovsky and other pseudoscientists.) Hofstadter’s essay inspired many teach- Did Adam and Eve Have Navels? (W.W. Norton), p. 2 ers to become followers of SI, which For every example of a crank who later became a hero there were thousands inevitably led us to become followers of of cranks who forever re mained cranks. Martin Gardner’s many inquiries. In fact, Science: Good, Bad and Bogus (Prometheus), p. xiii many of us became somewhat fanatical about our inquiries into what Gardner Cranks by definition believe their theories and charlatans do not, but this called “wild beliefs.” We can’t stop investi- does not prevent a person from being both a crank and a charlatan. gating and writing about them. Thanks to Science: Good, Bad and Bogus, p. xiv Martin Gardner, James Randi, and others of like spirit, we won’t be quiet until the In discussing extremes of unorthodoxy in science I consider it a waste of time last bit of bogus science is buried with the to give rational arguments. Those who are in agreement do not need to be last charlatan claiming paranormal or educated about such trivial matters, and trying to enlighten those who dis- agree is like trying to write on water. ... For these reasons, when writing super natural powers. about extreme eccentricities of science, I have adopted H.L. Mencken’s sage Robert Carroll is emeritus professor of philoso- advice: one horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. phy at Sacramento City College and creator of Science: Good, Bad and Bogus, pp. xv, xvi The Skeptic’s Dictionary Web site. He is a CSI fellow.

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A Tribute and Celebration

Visits to Martin BRYAN FARHA I cannot recall when or why I first became interested in pseudoscience. . . . Not It was serendipitous that Oklahoma City being a scientist, but only a science journalist, I have always been in trigued by University (where I teach) brought in fringe science, perhaps for the same reason that I enjoy freak shows at carni- James Randi to speak several years ago. vals and circuses. Pseudo scien tists, especially the extreme cranks, are fasci- While here, Randi asked me to take him nating creatures for psychological study. Moreover, I have found that one of the to visit his beloved friend, Martin, in best ways to learn something about any branch of science is to find out where nearby Norman, Oklahoma. Martin had its crackpots go wrong. been in an assisted living center there On the Wild Side (Prometheus), p. 7 since 2002. Randi introduced us, and this As all magicians know, physicists are among the easiest people in the world to began my personal connection to Martin. be fooled by magic tricks. They are so used to working with Mother , Since that day, I periodically visited who never cheats, that when confronted with the task of testing a psychic Martin in his room. Two visits stand out. charlatan they have no comprehension of how to set up adequate controls. ... On one occasion the visit was profession- Am I saying that all psychic re searchers should be trained in magic, or seek ally motivated because an author asked the aid of magicians, before they test miracle workers? That is exactly what I me to interview Martin for his book. am saying. The most eminent scientist, untrained in magic, is putty in the hands About midway through, Martin turned of a clever charlatan. the tables and he became the interviewer. “Lessons of a Landmark PK Hoax,” Gardner’s first SKEPTICAL INQUIRER column, I was surprised at his sudden interest in Summer 1983, p. 18; reprinted as “” in The New Age me. What stood out most was his inquir- (Prometheus), 1991 paperback edition ing about my beliefs and view of reli- I like to think I am unduly harsh and dogmatic only when writing about a pseu- gion—just before I was going to ask him doscience that is far out on the continuum that runs from good science to bad, similar questions on the same subject. He and when I am expressing the views of all the experts in the relevant field. Where sensed my frustration in not knowing there are areas on the fringes of orthodoxy, supported by respected scientists, exactly how to “label” my beliefs. After I try to be more agnostic. giving him a lengthy explanation, he said, “A Mind at Play,” interview in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, March/April 1998, p. 37 “I know how to label your beliefs.” He continued, “You’re a philosophical theist, Finding 666 in the names of famous people is a number-twiddling pastime that like me.” It was great to finally be able to has obsessed numerologists ever since the Book of was written. concretize my position. Until that time, I With patience and ingenuity it is not difficult to extract 666 from almost any person’s name. For example, using Blevins’s Bible code, I discovered that sun, really didn’t know what to call it. When moon, and Pat J. Buchanan each adds to 666. The same code yields 666 if you my interview of Martin concluded, I apply it to Hal Lindsey B, the B standing, of course, for Beast. went home and immediately Googled the term. The first thing I found was “The Second Coming of Jesus,” “Notes of a Fringe Watcher” a Wikipedia definition. The end of the column, SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, January/February 2000, p. 11 entry now states, “Martin Gardner The steady expansion of scientific knowledge is one of the few aspects of (1914–2010) was a contemporary def - human history—perhaps the only aspect—about which we can say dogmatically ender of philosophical theism.” It was that genuine progress takes place. Moreover, the progress itself progresses. obvious Martin knew what he was talk- The expansion occurs with steadily increasing rapidity. ing about. The Ambidextrous Universe (Scribner), preface to the Second Edition The other visit that stood out was per- I continue to be amazed that any professional mathematician would suppose that sonally motivated; I took my nine-year- mathematics has no reality apart from human cultures. I am even more old nephew, Cole, to meet this extraordi- astounded that there actually are physicists who think the moon would not be nary man. Martin amazed Cole with “out there” if no one (not even a mouse? Einstein liked to ask) observed it. visual illusions, which were displayed throughout his room. Particularly eye- The Jinn from Hyperspace (Prometheus), introduction to Ch. 9, catching to Cole was the “Paper Dragon” “A Defense of Platonic Realism,” p. 93 illusion—designed for a special gathering If God or the , or the Old One (as Einstein liked to call Everything), had a honoring Martin. He had a very effective transcendent reason for bringing us into existence, what does it matter way of using entertainment as an educa- whether the first man and woman were formed in one day from the dust of the tional tool. It certainly worked for Cole. Although Cole may not have had a full continued appreciation for the magnitude of

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John Allen Paulos is professor of mathematics at Temple University and author of such books ground, as Genesis has it, or evolved over billions of years from the dust of a as Innumeracy, A Mathe matician Reads the primeval fireball? The fact that we are here proves that we derive, in some Newspaper, and Once Upon a Number. He is a crazy sense, from the fireball, and I for one find this more miraculous than the CSI fellow. Genesis story. A review of Steven Weinberg’s book, The First Three Minutes, re printed in Order and Surprise (Prometheus), p. 319 Characterizing the For as long as I can remember I have been impressed, perhaps overwhelmed Hermit Scientist is more accurate, by the vastness of the universe and the even greater vast- ness of the darkness that extends beyond the farthest frontiers of scientific SCOTT O. LILIENFELD knowledge. I had been deeply interested in scientific The Night Is Large: Collected Essays 1938—1995 (St. Martin’s Press), p. xvii skepticism for a solid fifteen years before I We are all little children walking down a road of yellow brick in a crazy, out- read Martin Gardner’s classic book Fads landish, Ozzy sort of world. We know that wisdom, love, and courage are essen- and Fallacies in the Name of Science, first tial virtues, but like Dorothy we cannot decide whether it is best to seek for published as In the Name of Science in better brains (our electronic computers grow more powerful every year!) or 1952. In fact, for quite some time I had for kinder, more loving hearts. resisted reading it. No book that old, I Introduction to the 1960 Dover edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz assumed, could possibly offer much to us by L. Frank Baum today. Moreover, I thought, Gardner’s examples must surely be outdated.

Martin Gardner quotes compiled by Kendrick Frazier Nothing, I soon discovered, could be further from the truth. Indeed, on finally reading Fads and Fallacies, I was amazed by how fresh and relevant it is to modern skepticism—and to the psychology of Martin’s brilliance, one day he will. I remember reading his books on rec- pseudoscience. As all dedicated skeptics As close as my proximity to Martin reational math as an undergraduate and know, in this book Gardner delineated was, I’m sorry I didn’t visit him more being eager to explain the puzzles in them the core characteristics of the “hermit sci- often—my loss. I’ve had many favorite to whoever would listen. In a couple of entist,” whom we might regard as the pro- issues of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER over the cases I even used them to win small bets. totypical pseudoscientist. For Gardner, years. I suspect this issue will climb to the Over the years we exchanged a couple of the hermit scientist (1) “considers himself top of my list. book blurbs, a benign log(arithm)-rolling as a genius,” (2) “regards his colleagues, Bryan Farha is a professor at Oklahoma City that was a signal honor for me, and we without ex ception, as ignorant block- heads,” (3) “be lieves himself unjustly per- University, where he coordinates the graduate also corresponded a bit about his novel secuted and discriminated against,” (4) program in applied behavioral studies, and is edi- The Art of Peter Fromm and other topics, “has strong compulsions to focus his tor of Paranormal Claims: A Critical Analysis. jokes in particular. Once he sent me a let- ter with some quite funny, quite non-G- attacks on the greatest scientists and the rated examples. Later, in the Scientific best established theories,” and (5) “has a Amer ican, he published a very elegant tendency to write in complex jargon, in many cases making use of terms and The Connoisseur illustration of a religious hoax I proposed phrases he himself has coined.” based on Kruskal’s theorem. of Paradox These psychological attributes ring as His interests ranged from Lewis Car- JOHN ALLEN PAULOS true today as they did nearly sixty years roll and the philosophy of mathematics to ago. Although some of the lyrics of the A connoisseur of paradox, Martin Gard - scientific hoaxes and popular culture. song may have changed ( - ner had a fittingly paradoxical career. Even in his last essay for the SKEPTICAL ers, theorists, and Lyksenkoists are Although he majored in philosophy and INQUIRER (March/April 2010) published no longer central foci of skeptical took no mathematics courses after high in his lifetime, he took on Oprah inquiry), the music hasn’t. In contempo- school, he probably did more to stimulate Winfrey’s pseudo-cures. A modest man, a rary psychological lingo, we might say an appreciation for, curiosity about, and clear-eyed skeptic, and an expositor extra- that Gard ner hit upon many of the fea- discussion of mathematical ideas than ordinaire, he was a cogent beacon of san- tures of pseudoscientists that predispose scores of us mathematics professors. ity to the end. them to confirmation bias: the tendency

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A Tribute and Celebration

to seek out evidence consistent with one’s the first publication of his that I ever read, hypotheses and to deny, dismiss, or dis- I simply cannot remember which one it tort evidence that isn’t. When one reads was. Memory is a funny thing, as Martin “Martin Gardner is one of the great Gardner’s twenty-five remarkable case Gardner well knew, and it feels to me as if intellects produced in this country in studies of thinking gone haywire, it is not his books have been in my life for as long this century.” difficult to discern a common thread run- as I can remember, like those really good ning through their enormous surface friends that we all take for granted. —, author of diversity: the persistent refusal of propo- By a process of deduction, I can work Gödel, Escher, Bach, on the nents of pseudoscience to allow contrary out that I must have read his collections of cover of Gardner’s The Night evidence to penetrate their web of beliefs. columns from Is Large (1996) More than anything else, Gardner’s first Scientific American, published under such book is a powerful cautionary tale of the titles as Mathematical Circus, many years “For more than half a century, Martin perils of intellectual hubris. before I read his skeptical classic Fads and Gardner has been the single brightest I regard Fads and Fallacies as the most Fallacies in the Name of Science. The for- beacon defending rationality and good significant work in the history of scientific mer books entertained and educated me. science against the mysticism and skepticism, as its message remains every They made math fun—at least for a self- anti-intellectualism that sur round us.” bit as pertinent to the vexing problem of professed nerd like me! —The late , pseudoscience today as it was in the 1950s. But Fads and Fallacies had a much , on the Gardner’s passing gives all of us an oppor- more profound impact on me than those back cover of Gardner’s The tunity not only to mourn the loss of one of stimulating collections of brainteasers. It Night Is Large (1996) the founders of the modern skeptical was one of the first books on skepticism movement but to revisit the wisdom and that I read, along with James Randi’s insights he imparted so many years ago. Flim-Flam! and The Truth About Uri Geller and David Marks and Richard and the delightful Annotated Alice Scott O. Lilienfeld is professor of psychology at Kammann’s The Psychology of the Psychic. books), I felt that I did know Martin Emory University, editor in chief of The The truth is, dear reader, that until well Gardner even though I never actually Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, into early adulthood I was . . . well, I met him. I would like to have met him. and lead author of 50 Great Myths of Popular guess I have to come clean . . . a believer I am sure I would have liked him. Like Psy chology. He is a CSI fellow and SI consult- in the paranormal! The book that actually thousands of other fans around the ing editor. opened my eyes to the wonderful world globe, I will miss him. of skepticism was James Alcock’s Para- psychology: Science or Magic?, but I quickly Christopher C. French is head of the Ano - The Friend followed that excellent volume with the malistic Psychology Research Unit at Golds - skeptical works of Gardner, Randi, miths College, University of London, and editor I Never Met Marks, and Kammann. in chief of The Skeptic (U.K.). He is co-editor of CHRISTOPHER C. FRENCH One thing is notable about all five of the new book Why Statues Weep: The Best of these books: they have all withstood the The Skeptic. I never had the pleasure of meeting test of time wonderfully. Indeed, all five Martin Gardner, but I feel as if I have are still on reading lists for the course on known him as a friend for decades. Over anomalistic psychology that I teach as Last of the a long and prolific career, he published part of the BSc Psychology program at over seventy books and countless newspa- Goldsmiths College, University of Polymaths per and magazine articles. These include London (along with lots of more recent NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON his regular column for the SKEPTICAL IN- texts, of course!). But it should be borne QUIRER, “Notes of a Fringe Watcher,” in mind that all of those classics but one With a career spanning most of a century, which ran for almost twenty years and his were written in the early 1980s. Fads and Martin Gardner was the last of the poly- “Mathematical Games” column, which Fallacies is now well over half a century maths. Nearly everyone in the skeptic ran in Scientific Amer ican for some twenty- old and is still well worth reading. It is, community, across multiple generations, five years. of course, somewhat depressing that was directly influenced by his writings. As I cannot claim to have read everything most of the fads so devastatingly cri- a kid, reading his monthly columns for that this great man ever wrote, of course, tiqued in this wonderful volume are still Scientific American, I naively believed that but I may well have more books on my going strong today. the simultaneous breadth and depth of bookshelves written by him than by any Through these works and others Gardner’s interests was common. Now I other author. When I try to think back to (notably, Science: Good, Bad and Bogus am certain it was unique.

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Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist, is direc- A Blowtorch Martin Bridgstock is a senior lecturer at the tor of the Hayden Planetarium at the American School of Biomolecular and Physical Sciences at Museum of Natural History and a CSI fellow. Turned on Jell-O Griffith University, Queens land, Au stralia, and author of the new book Beyond Belief: His most recent book is The Pluto Files. MARTIN BRIDGSTOCK Skepticism, Science and the Para normal. He is a Martin Gardner burst into my awareness CSI scientific consultant. in the 1960s. I remember myself as a trou- The Roots bled boy in my early teens, mooching of Skepticism through the weekly market in Grimsby, a Goodbye, Master U.K. fishing port. I picked up a copy of JAY M. PASACHOFF Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science of Journalists I have often cited two books as formative for five British shillings—about 40 U.S. LUIS ALFONSO GÁMEZ of my career: Martin Gardner’s Fads and cents in today’s money—and read it. Fallacies in the Name of Science (I can pic- Then I read it again, and again. Here was Martin Gardner was the master for those of us who believe that teaching science ture the cover of the Dover edition, which a grown-up with massive intellectual should include denouncing bunk. “I have came out in 1957 while I was at the powers focusing critically upon paranor- found that one of the best ways to learn Bronx High School of Science) and C.P. mal claims. It was a bit like watching a something about any branch of science is Snow’s Two Cultures and the Scien tific blowtorch being turned on Jell-O. I was shocked, amused, and delighted. Why to find out where its crackpots go wrong,” Revolution (which I bought when it first wasn’t anyone else doing this? he wrote in On the Wild Side (1992). came out in 1959, at a bookstore in San Gardner taught me a lot. First, that all Exactly so. In a world in which so many Francisco while attending a summer math humans, without exception, can be feel attracted to the paranormal, this research program at Berkeley—just prior wrong. And since all books, papers, and maxim should guide the work of journal- to my starting Har vard as a freshman). In paranormal theories are produced by ists who inform the public about science. the fifty-plus years since, I have tried to humans, they can be wrong too. There is Too often we have irresponsibly avoided conduct my science, my life, and my no way out, except to check the evidence criticizing pseudoscience, considering it career with the ideals of both of those and think for yourself. Second, he taught undignified. authors in mind: eschewing fads, fallacies, me the importance of clarity in writing We should take advantage of flying and pseudoscience of all kinds and trying through his ability to skewer pseudoscien- saucers, , extrasensory perception, to be educated in both science and the tists with a few words of description or and to hook the public and humanities. criticism. I am no Gardner, but these teach them to appreciate biology, psychol- A few years ago, I started teaching a messages sank into my bones. ogy, geology, history—science and knowl- seminar at Williams College on “Science Years later, I discovered Gardner’s edge in general. We should use pseudo- and Pseudoscience” to about a dozen mathematical column in Scientific Amer- science as the hook to teach science and juniors and seniors. I started out with C.P. ican. My math was barely good enough to critical thought. Martin Gard ner did it Snow’s book and ideas as a frame to the follow the arguments, but Gardner’s for decades with the clarity of someone seminar and then had one of the twelve delight in human inventiveness shone who considered himself “basically a jour- weekly sessions devoted to Martin Gard - clearly through every paragraph. He loved nalist.” His books are always at hand ner’s work, with a reading list (and library producing dizzying paradoxes from sim- to consult to remember what he said reserve) that included all of his relevant ple assumptions and throwing light on about so many of the absurdities that sur- round us. books. The course has been quite popular, whole new fields of mathematical Today the world is a little darker; rea- straining the limit of twenty that I subse- thought. It was the other side of his criti- son’s flame dims in the darkness because quently adopted, with students begging cisms of pseudoscience: use your mind, we are without Martin Gardner. We will to be admitted. The discussions have been and wonders will follow. Obfuscate, and miss him. I will continue to have him lively and interesting. I look forward to there is disaster ahead. In a very real sense, Martin Gardner with me daily, as I have since I read him next spring’s version. for the first time, as an example of what a So I am back to my roots in Martin cannot die. Like David Hume, he is a liv- ing thinker whose ideas will remain rele- scientific journalist must be. Luckily, we Gardner’s important plea for rationality, have his books to guide us. and I am very grateful to him for his ideas. vant as long as human foolishness persists. Among much else, he was one of the Luis Alfonso Gámez is a journalist, scientific Jay M. Pasachoff is the Field Memorial Pro - founders of the modern skeptical move- consultant for CSI, and author of Magonia fessor of Astronomy at Williams Col lege, Wil - ment, and his truth really will go march- (http://magonia.es), the most important Span - liamstown, , and a CSI fellow. ing on! ish-language skeptical blog. He is a CSI fellow.

40 Volume 34, Issue 5 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI Sept/Oct pgs_SI MJ 2010 7/22/10 4:42 PM Page 41

A Tribute and Celebration

What Martin Some of Gardner’s Taught Me Notable Books ... About Pseudoscience Although I met Martin only once in per- and Fringe Science son, I worked with him as his editor for In the Name of Science (1952), repub- his SKEPTICAL INQUIRER column for lished as Fads and Fallacies in the about eight years. When I first started Name of Science (1957) with the magazine, I knew who he was by Science: Good, Bad and Bogus (1981, reputation, but I don’t think it was until 1983, 1989) later, as I was reintroduced to his columns How Not to Test a Psychic and earlier work, that I really gained a true The New Age: Notes of a Fringe appreciation for his genius. Watcher* (1998, 1991) I remember getting a column from On the Wild Side* (1992) Martin for the first time. To be honest, I Weird Water and Fuzzy Logic* (1996) don’t remember what the topic was, but I Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?* (2000) do remember being slightly annoyed. You The Jinn from Hyperspace* (2008) see, it was typewritten and photocopied When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish* (2009) (with a few handwritten editorial correc- *In part, collections of his SI columns, tions). I was used to e-mailed attachments you fax it to me?” While I was willing and able to help, it and columns submitted on CDs and ... About Science floppy discs—what was this typewritten seemed like a bit of a steep request to stop stuff? As the years went on I came to trea- what I was doing, look through two Relativity for the Million The Ambidextrous Universe sure and look forward to seeing his three- dozen back issues, find the article, and fax The New Ambidextrous Universe page, double-spaced columns in the dark it to the man, long distance, at our ex - Great Essays in Science (ed.) black, old-school typewriter font. It re - pense! Besides, I was skeptical that the payphone would be able to receive the minded me of good, old-fashioned skep- ... On Other Topics ticism. It reminded me of notes and let- fax. And what was the urgency anyway? ters my grandfather—a veteran journalist The man put another quarter in the Mathematics, Magic, and Mystery The Scientific American Book of and skeptic himself—would write to me phone and explained that he feared that his younger brother was becoming in - Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions when I was a teenager. volved in a cult. He was driving out to see One thing I learned from Martin, The Annotated Ancient Mariner his brother and was desperately trying to albeit indirectly, was how skeptical Aha! Insight research and investigation can make a real think of ways to reason with him. He The Sixth Book of Mathematical Games difference in people’s lives. It’s all well and remembered that Martin had written a from Scientific American good to write skeptically about UFOs or column on the cult years before and Mathematical Carnival ghosts in the abstract, but it’s a different hoped the information would provide Aha! Gotcha matter when you’re dealing with real peo- skeptical facts and criticisms. He was call- Order and Surprise ple and real problems. ing from outside a copy shop with the The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener One day in 2000 I got a call at the shop’s fax number handy so he could The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix office from a man at a payphone some- receive the fax there and go see his brother Knotted Doughnuts and Other where in Arizona. The man had a soft armed with more than just concerns. I Mathematical Entertainments voice—he sounded like he was in his early hung up the phone, sifted through the The No-Sided Professor (short stories) fifties—and wanted some information on back issues on my shelf, copied the rele- The Wreck of the Titanic Foretold? (ed.) Time Travel and Other Mathematical an article he had read a long time ago in vant pages, and faxed them off. I never Bewilderments KEPTICAL NQUIRER heard back from the man; I hope he was the S I but didn’t have Gardner’s Whys and Wherefores an issue date or year. “It’s an article by able to reason with his brother using Penrose Tiles to Trapdoor Ciphers Martin Gardner,” he said. “It’s on a cult.” Martin’s work, and I liked the idea that The Healing of Mary Baker I told him that I’d try to locate the article Martin’s keen mind and research might Eddy and issue and forward his call to the front help save a man’s life. Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery desk where he could purchase the issue, if I shared this story with Martin last The Universe in a Handkerchief he wished. year as I was preparing my latest book, to “No, no,” he said. “I need it now. Can which Martin kindly contributed, and he

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September / October 2010 41 SI Sept/Oct pgs_SI MJ 2010 7/22/10 4:42 PM Page 42

MARTIN GARDNER

was very pleased indeed. Martin kept need to go in order to help select the Statistically, he stated, the fact that this working and writing and corresponding materials and then help box them up, was all coincidental fell within the realm to the very end of his life. I don’t believe something not uncommon for some of of possibility. He went on to tell me that in an , but Martin may have; if our acquisitions. I again tried to defer; I there is “something” that makes us all he’s there, he’s certainly earned his rest. had things that needed to get done, and want to believe in something greater than couldn’t this wait until the fall? Barry told ourselves and that those who believe in Benjamin Radford is a research fellow of the me that Martin Gardner had decided to ESP and related phenomena use Futility Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, managing edi- give us some of his papers and a collection and the other works mentioned in his tor of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, and author of the of books, all related to our mission at the book as examples of these phenomena. new book Scientific Paranormal Investigation. Center. I asked him when I could hit the He then pointed out the idea of selective road. memory, where one remembers only the Martin Gardner, “father of the mod- hits, not the thousands of misses, which is My Reminiscence ern skeptical movement,” had asked us to why some people believe in ; they of Martin Gardner: select materials from his collection, box forget all the misses and remember only them up, bring them back to our Amherst the things guessed correctly. In the case of A Lesson offices, and maintain his collection on all the Titanic, there were thousands of sto- matters of the paranormal, fringe claims, TIMOTHY BINGA ries at the time about ships traveling the pseudoscience, etc. His book Fads and Atlantic that did not hit an iceberg (but Back in 2002, I was asked by , Fallacies in the Name of Science kicked off might have had a Captain Smith). the executive director of CSICOP, if I this movement. He was a founding fellow I asked him why the Titanic was so would be able to leave right away on a trip of CSICOP, a writer for Prometheus popular for those trying to prove the exis- to acquire some materials for the Center Books, and a fellow Titanic aficionado tence of psychic phenomena. He coun- for Inquiry Libraries. It was during our (Wreck of the Titanic Foretold?, edited and tered by asking me why I thought the annual Summer Institute, and I was sup- with an introduction by Gardner, and Titanic struck such a chord with our cul- posed to be teaching our students how several short stories and other hard-to- ture. Because I had studied this myself, I libraries organize materials that are associ- find Titanic- and ESP-related materials told him that it was because it marked the ated with our various organizations. I did- were included in the collection). I was end of an age: the disaster hit all the vari- n’t think I should go; couldn’t we just have ready to go right there and then. ous levels of society at one time (the the items shipped? Barry told me I would We made plans, and I picked up boxes microcosm of society on the boat), and so and headed out to Hender son ville, North many half-truths and myths surrounded Carolina, in my wife’s van the next morn- the Titanic. Everyone could find some- The Martin ing. I drove all day, staying in a hotel close thing they could relate to and would find to his home. I called him early the next of interest. He looked at me and said that Gardner Collection day and headed over to his house. I had answered my own question. He greeted me at the door, took me When I finished packing up the books The Center for Inquiry Libraries at into his library, and pointed out what and loading the van with the cabinets and CFI’s headquarters in Amherst, New items he wanted me to take. We then boxes, I went back in to say goodbye. It York, have approximately twelve lin- began to select the various items from his was with more than a hint of sadness that ear feet of papers donated by Martin collection. he thanked me for taking his materials. It Gardner. The papers are arranged as I was a little put off at first; I had met was then that I realized that this was a created by Gardner himself: three him once before in Amherst, but he small part of himself being packed up; he drawers of materials are organized seemed distracted to me, distant, not was “downsizing” in preparation for a alphabetically by name; the remain- wholly there while we went through the move (to be near his son in Okla homa, I ing drawers are organized by topic, books. We continued going through the found out later). I then thanked him for including all the various fields of skep- shelves, placing the materials to one side his donation, telling him that I would ticism, the paranormal, religious criti- so I could box them up later. He pointed take very good care of his books and files. cism, etc. Approximately 450 books to a couple of filing cabinets, telling me I He said, “I know you will.” I headed back are similarly categorized. No books or should take those too. to Buffalo feeling very fortunate to be able papers concerning Gard ner’s mathe- I finally got up the courage to ask him to have shared a little time with him. matical interests or his Scientific about the Titanic, letting him know I also (See sidebar, “The Martin Gardner American columns are located at the had an interest. He told me the same Collection.”) Center, unless they relate to the above things I had gleaned from his book: the ! topics. coincidences were not evidence of ESP or Timothy Binga is director of the Center for precognition but a product of the times. Inquiry Libraries in Amherst, New York.

42 Volume 34, Issue 5 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER