Royal Vale Heath (5 January 1883 – 25 July 1960) was a wealthy New York stockbroker and writer who became widely known as a magician and puzzle enthusiast.
''The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', July 27, 1960 His magic tricks were often based on mathematics and he introduced the term "

mathemagic A mathemagician is a mathematician who is also a Magician (illusion), magician. The term "mathemagic" is believed to have been introduced by Royal Vale Heath with his 1933 book "Mathemagic"."Mathemagic" by Royal Vale Heath and Jerome Sydney Meyer, ...

" to describe them in a 1933 book titled ''Mathemagic''."Mathemagic" by Royal Vale Heath and Jerome Sydney Meyer, Simon and Schuster, New York (1933) He was a frequent contributor to ''

Scripta Mathematica ''Scripta Mathematica'' was a quarterly journal published by Yeshiva University devoted to the Philosophy, history, and expository treatment of mathematics. It was said to be, at its time, "the only mathematical magazine in the world edited by spe ...

'', ''

Hugard's Magic Monthly ''Hugard's Magic Monthly'' was a magic periodical published June 1943 – April 1965. The magazine was created and edited by Jean Hugard until his death in 1959, when Fred Braue took over as editor. After Braue's death, the magazine continued ...

'', and '' The Jinx''.Royal Vale Heath
Conjuring Archive: Searchable Magic Book Contents He specialized in tricks involving dice, serial numbers and

magic square In mathematics, especially History of mathematics, historical and recreational mathematics, a square array of numbers, usually positive integers, is called a magic square if the sums of the numbers in each row, each column, and both main diago ...

s.Special Exhibits

Notices of the American Mathematical Society ''Notices of the American Mathematical Society'' is the membership journal of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), published monthly except for the combined June/July issue. The first volume was published in 1953. Each issue of the magazine ...

, July/August 1988, Volume 35, Number 6, p 840 He once constructed a magic square that remained a magic square even when it was turned upside-down. In 1988 his work was exhibited at the

David Winton Bell Gallery The David Winton Bell Gallery is a contemporary art gallery at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The gallery was established in 1971 through a donation from the Bell family. The Bell Gallery serves as a hub of contemporary art within t ...

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

. Heath played a crucial role in the career of popular mathematics writer

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing magic, scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writin ...

. At a magic show in 1956 he introduced Gardner to

flexagon In geometry, flexagons are Plane (geometry), flat models, usually constructed by folding strips of paper, that can be ''flexed'' or folded in certain ways to reveal faces besides the two that were originally on the back and front. Flexagons are ...

s and these folded paper shapes became the subject of Gardner's December 1956 column in

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

which launched his quarter century tenure there. Several of Heath's tricks have been collected in Gardner book ''Mathematics, Magic and Mystery''.''Gardner, Martin
Mathematics, Magic and Mystery
' Dover (1956), ''

References

Recreational mathematicians American magicians Writers from New York City Mathematics popularizers 1883 births 1960 deaths {{US-mathematician-stub