John Conway was born in Britain and knew at a early age that he wanted to become a mathematician. He studied at Cambridge where he later became College Fellow and Lecturer in Mathematics. After working at Cambridge for a little more than twenty years, Conway took the position of Von Neumann Chair of Mathematics at Princeton. Conway has major achievements in game theory, geometry, topology, group theory, number theory, algebra, algorithmics, and theoretical physics.
Conway's mindset was that of simplicity. He was once quoted as saying "What I like doing is taking something that other people thought was complicated and difficult to understand, and finding a simple idea so that any fool (and in this case you) can understand the complicated thing."
Some of the games that Conway is most noted for are:
Conway's Game of Life
Sprouts
Conway's Rope Trick
Phutball (Philosopher's Football)
Conway's Soldiers
Conway's mindset was that of simplicity. He was once quoted as saying "What I like doing is taking something that other people thought was complicated and difficult to understand, and finding a simple idea so that any fool (and in this case you) can understand the complicated thing."
Some of the games that Conway is most noted for are:
Conway's Game of Life
Sprouts
Conway's Rope Trick
Phutball (Philosopher's Football)
Conway's Soldiers
This video is a poignant interview of John Conway and his thoughts about being a "famous" mathematician, what is important to him, and what is not. He tells us that he still wants to know why the.... (you'll have to watch the video to find out).
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Sources:
"John Horton Conway." Princeton University. Princeton University, n.d. Web. 28 June 2014. <https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/John_Horton_Conway.html>
"Life, Death and the Monster - Numberphile." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 28 June 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOCe5HUObD4&index=6&list=PLiY-npc-ixgNGqjPXczuFZ0PcP25Nbv_Y>.
Pearson, Mike. "Tangles." Nrich. University of Cambridge, n.d. Web. 28 June 2014. <http://nrich.maths.org/content/id/5681/Tangles.pdf>.
Schleicher, Dierk. "Interview with John Horton Conway." Notices of the American Mathematical Society 60.05 (2013): 567. American Mathematical Society. American Mathematical Society, May 2013. Web. <http://www.ams.org/notices/201305/rnoti-p567.pdf>.
"John Horton Conway." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 June 2014. Web. 28 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Horton_Conway>.
"John Horton Conway." Princeton University. Princeton University, n.d. Web. 28 June 2014. <https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/John_Horton_Conway.html>
"Life, Death and the Monster - Numberphile." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 28 June 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOCe5HUObD4&index=6&list=PLiY-npc-ixgNGqjPXczuFZ0PcP25Nbv_Y>.
Pearson, Mike. "Tangles." Nrich. University of Cambridge, n.d. Web. 28 June 2014. <http://nrich.maths.org/content/id/5681/Tangles.pdf>.
Schleicher, Dierk. "Interview with John Horton Conway." Notices of the American Mathematical Society 60.05 (2013): 567. American Mathematical Society. American Mathematical Society, May 2013. Web. <http://www.ams.org/notices/201305/rnoti-p567.pdf>.
"John Horton Conway." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 June 2014. Web. 28 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Horton_Conway>.