Irving Joshua Matrix
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Irving Joshua Matrix — previously known as Irving Joshua Bush and commonly known as Dr. (I. J.) Matrix — is a fictitious
polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
scientist, scholar, cowboy, and entrepreneur who made extraordinary contributions to perpetual motion engineering, Biblical cryptography and numerology, pyramid power,
pentagonal In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...
meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...
,
extra-sensory perception Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke Universi ...
, psychic metallurgy, and a number of other topics. He is an accomplished prestidigitator and a
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...
. Being a fictitious character he could perform tasks that were logically impossible; for example, he could "clap one hand in the air" when summoning a waiter or a minion.The Magic Numbers Of Dr. Matrix
by Martin Gardner, Prometheus Books, 1985,
Dr. Matrix was the satirical creation of ''
Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...
'' columnist
Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lew ...
(1914–2010) who introduced him in his "
Mathematical Games A mathematical game is a game whose rules, strategies, and outcomes are defined by clear mathematical parameters. Often, such games have simple rules and match procedures, such as Tic-tac-toe and Dots and Boxes. Generally, mathematical games ne ...
" column in January 1960. The mythical doctor appeared frequently thereafter and the relevant columns were eventually collected into a book. The intent was partly to provide colorful context to mathematical puzzles and curiosities, partly to spoof various
pseudo-scientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...
theories, and to provide a humorous introduction to the serious topic at hand.


Fictitious biography

Matrix was born in Japan, the eldest of seven children of the Reverend William Miller Bush, a
Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...
missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
. He resided in Japan until the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, where he learned the secrets of the conjuring art and worked as assistant to the famous Japanese magician
Tenkai was a Japanese Tendai Buddhist monk of the Azuchi-Momoyama and early Edo periods. He achieved the rank of ''Daisōjō'', the highest rank of the priesthood. His Buddhist name was first , which he changed to Tenkai in 1590. Also known as , he ...
. Presumably it was in Japan that he met Ms. Eisei Toshiyori, and where their daughter Iva Matrix was born on December 31, 1939. Iva accompanied Dr. Matrix through most of his public life, acting as assistant and manager in most of his enterprises. The author of the fictitious narrative pretended to be romantically interested in Iva, thus explaining his continuing interest in Dr. Matrix's activities. He was a close friend and a student of Nicolas Bourbaki. Martin Gardner tells of meeting the shady Dr. Matrix at Pyramid Lake, Nevada. He was accompanied by a Filipino assistant named Rhee, who was missing most of his teeth. They called him "One-Tooth Rhee." Both were chased out of town for running a pyramid scheme. Dr. Matrix was often persecuted by establishment authorities, and many times had to change abode and live under assumed names, with appropriate matching changed appearances. He was accused several times of fraud. He reportedly died in 1980, in a duel against a certain Ivan Skavinsky Skavar, a
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
agent, in circumstances as obscure and dubious as most of his career. However, in 1987 Gardner encountered Matrix, alive and well, in Casablanca at " Rick's Café Américain" of all places. It was explained that Ivan's bullet merely grazed him, but in order to avoid retaliation by the KGB, witnesses were bribed to state that he died, and a fake funeral was arranged.Penrose Tiles to Trapdoor Ciphers: –and the Return of Dr Matrix
by Martin Gardner, Mathematical Association of America, Washington, DC, 1997, pp. 294-314,


Dr. Matrix columns

Martin Gardner chronicled the story of Dr. Matrix in the following
Mathematical Games column Over a period of 24 years (January 1957 – December 1980), Martin Gardner wrote 288 consecutive monthly "Mathematical Games" columns for ''Scientific American'' magazine. During the next years, through June 1986, Gardner wrote 9 more columns, ...
s.


Legacy

A web site, ''Ask Dr. Matrix'' exists which finds a numerological link between two user chosen numbers. Irish mathematical enthusiast and author Owen O’Shea has been dubbed by the New York Times as "the heir apparent to Dr. I. J. Matrix in numerological acumen”.


Bibliography

Gardner's Dr. Matrix book went through three editions.The Canon: The fifteen "Mathematical Games" books at martin-gardner.org
/ref> The complete list is: * ''The Numerology of Dr. Matrix: The Fabulous Feats and Adventures in Number Theory, Sleight of Word, and Numerological Analysis (Literary, Biblical, Political, Philosophical and Psychonumeranalytical) of That Incredible Master Mind'' (1967),
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
. * Reprinted/expanded as ''The Incredible Dr. Matrix: The World's Greatest Numerologist' (1976),
Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan R ...
; . * Reprinted/expanded as ''The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix'' (1985); Prometheus Books; Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 84-43183, (cloth), 0-87975-282-3 (paper). All of the Dr. Matrix columns from 1960 to 1980 are collected in the third, and final, edition. One final story about Dr. Matrix appears in Gardner's book: * ''Penrose Tiles to Trapdoor Ciphers: –and the Return of Dr Matrix'', Mathematical Association of America, Washington, DC, 1997


References


External links


Ask Dr. Matrix
An on-line cybernetic numerologist inspired by Dr. Matrix {{Martin Gardner Matrix, Irving Joshua Fictional cowboys and cowgirls Fictional engineers Matrix, Irving Joshua Fictional parapsychologists Fictional scholars Fictional stage magicians *