John Allen Paulos
| John Allen Paulos | |
|---|---|
 John Allen Paulos |
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| Born | July 4, 1945 |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Temple University |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Known for | Author of books and articles on a variety of topics, especially the combatting of innumeracy |
| Notable awards | 2003 AAAS Award |
John Allen Paulos (born July 4, 1945) is an American professor of mathematics at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who has gained fame as a writer and speaker on mathematics and the importance of mathematical literacy.
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Early life[edit]
Paulos grew up in Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Career[edit]
His academic work is mainly in mathematical logic and probability theory.
His book Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences (1988) was an influential bestseller and A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995) extended the critique.
He has also written on other subjects, such as the mathematical and philosophical basis of humor in Mathematics and Humor and I Think, Therefore I Laugh, the vagaries of the stock market in A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market, quantitative aspects of narrative in Once Upon a Number, and the emptiness of the arguments for God in Irreligion.
Paulos wrote a mathematics-tinged column for the UK newspaper The Guardian. His long-running monthly column Who's Counting[1] deals with mathematical aspects of stories in the news.
Awards[edit]
Paulos received the 2003 AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Award for Promoting the Public Understanding of Science and Technology.[2]
Paulos received the 2013 JPBM (Joint Policy Board for Mathematics) Award for Communicating Mathematics on a Sustained Basis to Large Audiences.[3]
Bibliography[edit]
- Mathematics & Humor: A Study of the Logic of Humor. University Of Chicago. 1980. ISBN 978-0-226-65024-1.
- I Think Therefore I Laugh: The Flip Side of Philosophy. Columbia University Press. 1985. ISBN 978-0-231-06031-8.
- Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences. Hill and Wang. 1988. ISBN 978-0-670-83008-4.
- Beyond Numeracy: Ruminations of a Numbers Man. Knopf. 1991. ISBN 978-0-394-58640-3.
- A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper. Basic Books. 1995. ISBN 978-0-465-04362-0.
- Once Upon a Number: The Hidden Mathematical Logic of Stories. Basic Books. 1998. ISBN 978-0-465-05158-8.
- A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market. Basic Books. 2003. ISBN 978-0-465-05480-0.
- Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up. Hill and Wang. 2007. ISBN 978-0-8090-5919-5.
References[edit]
- ^ Who's Counting at ABC News
- ^ AAAS Award for Public Understanding of Science & Technology, AAAS 2003 Award Recipients.
- ^ JPBM Award for Communicating Mathematics.
External links[edit]
- John Allen Paulos's home page at Temple University
- Who's Counting columns at ABC News
- Paulos speaking at Beyond Belief conference
- All Hail Numeracy
- "He Conquered the Conjecture", essay by Paulos on Grigory Perelman from The New York Review of Books
- Metric Mania
- Measuring Bacteria With a Yardstick
- Paulos with David Letterman on The Late Show
- Paulos' columns, The Guardian
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