Alexander Dewdney
Encyclopedia
Alexander Keewatin Dewdney (born August 5, 1941 in London, Ontario
) is a Canadian
mathematician
, computer scientist
and philosopher
who has written a number of books on the future and implications of modern computing. He has also written one work of fiction, The Planiverse
. Dewdney lives in London
, Ontario
, Canada
where he holds the position of Professor Emeritus of the University of Western Ontario
. Dewdney is the son of Canadian artist and author Selwyn Dewdney
, as well as the brother of poet Christopher Dewdney
. Dewdney has been a Muslim for over 35 years.http://www.physics911.net/islamnotsuicidal.htm
In his early life, as "Keewatin Dewdney", he made a number of influential experimental films, including "Malanga", on the poet Gerard Malanga
, as well as "Four Girls", "Scissors", and his most ambitious film, the pre-structuralist "Maltese Cross Movement." "Malanga", "Four Girls" and "Scissors" may be rented in 16 mm
from the Film-Makers' Cooperative in New York City. More about Dewdney's early film work can be found in Wheeler Winston Dixon
's book "The Exploding Eye", a history of experimental film in the 1960s.
Dewdney followed Martin Gardner
and Douglas Hofstadter
in authoring Scientific American
's recreational mathematics
column, which he renamed to "Computer Recreations", then "Mathematical Recreations", from 1984 to 1993 (with the last few appearing in Algorithm). These have been collected into 3 books.
The subjects include computer virus
es, Core War
s, finite automata like Conway's Game of Life
, brown noise, the game of Alak, Tinkertoy
and spaghetti sort
ing.
Dewdney also published claims about events surrounding the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, stating that phone calls from the planes must have been faked and that the plane that hit the Pentagon was not Flight 77 (see external links below). In 2003, Dewdney featured a paper on his website Physics911 on the topic of impossible phone calls on 9/11 by Holocaust denier
Germar Rudolf
. Some members of the 9/11 Truth Movement
do not agree with the claims that a Boeing aircraft could not have hit the Pentagon or that the phone calls were faked, and have written essays refuting the claims..
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, computer scientist
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
and philosopher
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
who has written a number of books on the future and implications of modern computing. He has also written one work of fiction, The Planiverse
The Planiverse
-Development:In 1977, Dewdney was inspired by an allegory of a two-dimensional universe, and decided to expand upon the physics and chemistry of such a universe.He published a short monograph in 1979 called Two-Dimensional Science and Technology.In July 1980, this was reviewed by Martin Gardner in...
. Dewdney lives in London
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
where he holds the position of Professor Emeritus of the University of Western Ontario
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...
. Dewdney is the son of Canadian artist and author Selwyn Dewdney
Selwyn Dewdney
Selwyn Hanington Dewdney was an author, illustrator, artist, activist and pioneer in both art therapy and pictography.- Early life :...
, as well as the brother of poet Christopher Dewdney
Christopher Dewdney
Christopher Dewdney is a Canadian writer and poet.He was born in London, Ontario, and presently lives in Toronto, where he is a professor at York University. He is the long-time partner of writer Barbara Gowdy. Winner of the 2007 Harbourfront Festival Prize, he is the author of four books of...
. Dewdney has been a Muslim for over 35 years.http://www.physics911.net/islamnotsuicidal.htm
In his early life, as "Keewatin Dewdney", he made a number of influential experimental films, including "Malanga", on the poet Gerard Malanga
Gerard Malanga
Gerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist.-Early life:Born in the Bronx, New York, Malanga graduated from the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and attended Wagner College on Staten Island...
, as well as "Four Girls", "Scissors", and his most ambitious film, the pre-structuralist "Maltese Cross Movement." "Malanga", "Four Girls" and "Scissors" may be rented in 16 mm
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
from the Film-Makers' Cooperative in New York City. More about Dewdney's early film work can be found in Wheeler Winston Dixon
Wheeler Winston Dixon
Wheeler Winston Dixon is best known as a writer of film history, theory and criticism. He is the author of numerous books on film, as well as a professor who has taught at Rutgers University, New Brunswick; The New School in New York; and the University of Amsterdam, Holland. He received his Ph.D....
's book "The Exploding Eye", a history of experimental film in the 1960s.
Dewdney followed Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature , philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion...
and Douglas Hofstadter
Douglas Hofstadter
Douglas Richard Hofstadter is an American academic whose research focuses on consciousness, analogy-making, artistic creation, literary translation, and discovery in mathematics and physics...
in authoring Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
's recreational mathematics
Recreational mathematics
Recreational mathematics is an umbrella term, referring to mathematical puzzles and mathematical games.Not all problems in this field require a knowledge of advanced mathematics, and thus, recreational mathematics often attracts the curiosity of non-mathematicians, and inspires their further study...
column, which he renamed to "Computer Recreations", then "Mathematical Recreations", from 1984 to 1993 (with the last few appearing in Algorithm). These have been collected into 3 books.
The subjects include computer virus
Computer virus
A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability...
es, Core War
Core War
Core War is a programming game in which two or more battle programs compete for the control of the "Memory Array Redcode Simulator" virtual computer . These battle programs are written in an abstract assembly language called Redcode...
s, finite automata like Conway's Game of Life
Conway's Game of Life
The Game of Life, also known simply as Life, is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970....
, brown noise, the game of Alak, Tinkertoy
Tinkertoy
The Tinkertoy Construction Set was created in 1914—one year after the A. C. Gilbert Company's Erector Set—by Charles H. Pajeau and Robert Pettit in Evanston, Illinois. Pajeau, a stonemason, designed the toy after seeing children play with pencils and empty spools of thread. He and...
and spaghetti sort
Spaghetti sort
Spaghetti sort is a linear-time, analog algorithm for sorting a sequence of items, introduced by Alexander Dewdney in his Scientific American column.-Algorithm:...
ing.
Dewdney also published claims about events surrounding the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, stating that phone calls from the planes must have been faked and that the plane that hit the Pentagon was not Flight 77 (see external links below). In 2003, Dewdney featured a paper on his website Physics911 on the topic of impossible phone calls on 9/11 by Holocaust denier
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
Germar Rudolf
Germar Rudolf
Germar Rudolf is a German chemist and Holocaust denier.-Background:Rudolf was born in Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse. After finishing secondary education in 1983 in Remscheid, Rudolf studied chemistry in Bonn, completing his studies in 1989. As a student, he joined A.V. Tuisconia Königsberg zu Bonn...
. Some members of the 9/11 Truth Movement
9/11 Truth Movement
9/11 Truth movement is a collective name for loosely affiliated organizations and individuals who question the accepted account of the September 11, 2001, attacks....
do not agree with the claims that a Boeing aircraft could not have hit the Pentagon or that the phone calls were faked, and have written essays refuting the claims..
Works
- The PlaniverseThe Planiverse-Development:In 1977, Dewdney was inspired by an allegory of a two-dimensional universe, and decided to expand upon the physics and chemistry of such a universe.He published a short monograph in 1979 called Two-Dimensional Science and Technology.In July 1980, this was reviewed by Martin Gardner in...
: Computer Contact with a Two-Dimensional World (1984). ISBN 0-387-98916-1. - The Armchair Universe: An Exploration of Computer Worlds (1988). ISBN 0-7167-1939-8. (collection of "Mathematical Recreations" columns)
- The Magic Machine: A Handbook of Computer Sorcery (1990). ISBN 0-7167-2144-9. (collection of "Mathematical Recreations" columns)
- The New Turing Omnibus: Sixty-Six Excursions in Computer Science (1993). ISBN 0-8050-7166-0.
- The Tinkertoy Computer and Other Machinations (1993). ISBN 0-7167-2491-X. (collection of "Mathematical Recreations" columns)
- Introductory Computer Science: Bits of Theory, Bytes of Practice (1996). ISBN 0-7167-8286-3.
- 200% of Nothing: An Eye Opening Tour Through the Twists and Turns of Math Abuse and Innumeracy (1996). ISBN 0-471-14574-2.
- Yes, We Have No Neutrons: An Eye-Opening Tour through the Twists and Turns of Bad Science (1997). ISBN 0-471-29586-8.
- Hungry Hollow: The Story of a Natural Place (1998). ISBN 0-387-98415-1.
- A Mathematical Mystery Tour: Discovering the Truth and Beauty of the Cosmos (2001). ISBN 0-471-40734-8.
- Beyond Reason: Eight Great Problems that Reveal the Limits of Science (2004). ISBN 0-471-01398-6.
External links
- His personal page
- PHYSICS 911 "the Scientific Panel Investigating Nine-eleven"