John Horton Conway was an English mathematician who worked across an unusually wide range of fields, including finite group theory, knot theory, number theory and coding theory. While analyzing the endgames of the board game Go at Cambridge in the early 1970s, he discovered that certain games behave like numbers, leading him to invent the surreal numbers and the field of combinatorial game theory, published as On Numbers and Games in 1976. He also invented the cellular automaton Conway's Game of Life, popularized in Martin Gardner's October 1970 Scientific American column.
Facts
BirthplaceLiverpool, England, United Kingdom 2 Death PlacePrinceton, New Jersey, United States 2 Nationality / Culture Defining ContributionInvented the surreal numbers and combinatorial game theory through his analysis of Go endgames at Cambridge, published as On Numbers and Games in 1976. 3 Notable WorkConway's Game of Life (1970), popularized in Martin Gardner's October 1970 Scientific American column 2 Notable WorkOn Numbers and Games (1976) 3 Notable WorkWinning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays (1982, with Elwyn Berlekamp and Richard Guy) 2 John Conway
Filter Results1 entry
Connections
Associated With
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Attributed Works
Source Conway knot (Wikipedia)
Conjectures Posed
In Branch
Source Conway, On Numbers and Games (1976)John H. Conway
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Namesake Of
Derived from the object's own name (unambiguous possessive-token match to exactly one live mathematician entity, w-bfill-g5-0924 browse backfill)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: John Conway
WikipediaLead section, gender referenceQuote, Lead section, gender reference
He was active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory.
2. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and Statisticshttps://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Conway/Quote, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Conway/
John Conway was an English mathematician who has produced many results in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory.
3. Conway, On Numbers and Games (1976)
John H. Conway, Academic Press, 1976
Conway knot (Wikipedia)
Attributed Works: Conway knot, Lead paragraphQuote, Attributed Works: Conway knot, Lead paragraph
50 years after Conway first proposed the knot
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.