John Allen Paulos
| John Allen Paulos | |
|---|---|
 John Allen Paulos | |
| 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.
Early life
Paulos grew up in Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Career
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
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]
Paulos' article "Counting on Dyscalculia," which appeared in Discover Magazine in 1994, won a Folio Award that year. [4]
Bibliography
- 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
- ↑ 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
- 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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