![]() ![]() Conway gained a reputation for his high jinks (not to mention his disheveled appearance). Hired at Cambridge as an assistant lecturer, Dr. He could be easily distracted by what he called “nerdish delights.” He once built a water-powered computer, which he called Winnie (Water Initiated Nonchalantly Numerical Integrating Engine). Conway cultivated his acknowledged lifelong preference for being lazy, playing games and doing no work. The Times said his work “ranged from the rigorously highbrow to the frivolously fun, earning him prizes and a reputation as a creative, iconoclastic and even magical genius”.Īs a student, Dr. He was born in England in 1937 and spent most of his career at the University of Cambridge, and then at Princeton. ![]() I read his obituary in the New York Times, and learned what a delightful person he was. I studied some of his work in college, but hadn’t thought about him much until he died last year. John Conway’s not a computer scientist, but he’s well-known among programmers like me for the Game of Life and similar math research that veers into computer science. (It’s not the heteronormative board game where you play a family trying to fill its car with children.) Conway’s idea came from decades of mathematicians exploring the question, can simple systems produce complex behavior? Could a system with a few basic rules behave unpredictably? Could it produce self-replicating organisms? It’s not intended to be a realistic description of biology, it’s a mathematical game, which Conway called “the Game of Life”. John ConwayĪ mathematician named John Conway came up with these three rules around 1970. In the next step of the simulation it will be black. ![]() ![]() The empty white square in the center will spring to life. ![]()
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