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Information About

Henry Dudeney





EARLY LIFE

Dudeney was born in the town of Mayfield, East Sussex , England. His grandfather, John Dudeney, was well known as a self-taught mathematician and shepherd; his initiative was much admired by his grandson. Dudeney learned to play Chess at an early age, and continued to play frequently throughout his life. This led to a marked interest in Mathematics and the composition of Puzzle s. Chess problems in particular, fascinated him during his early years.


CAREER

Although Dudeney spent his career in the Civil Service , he continued to devise various problems and puzzles. Dudeney's first puzzle contributions were submissions to newspapers and magazines, often under the Pseudonym of "Sphinx." Much of this earlier work was a collaboration with American puzzlist Sam Loyd ; in 1890, they published a series on article in the English penny weekly ''Tit-Bits''.

Dudeney later contributed puzzles under his real name to publications such as ''The Weekly Dispatch'', ''The Queen'', ''Blighty'', and ''Cassell's Magazine''. For twenty years, he had a successful column, "Perplexities", in the magazine ''The Strand'', edited by the former editor of ''Tit-Bits'', George Newnes. Dudeney continued to exchange puzzles with fellow Recreational Mathematician Sam Loyd for a while, but broke off the correspondence and accused Loyd of stealing his puzzles and publishing them under his own name. In April of 1930, Dudeney died in Lewes .

Some of Dudeney's most famous innovations were his 1903 success at solving the Haberdasher's Puzzle (Cut an Equilateral Triangle into four pieces that can be rearranged to make a Square ) and publishing the first known crossnumber puzzle, in 1926 . In addition, he has been credited with inventing Verbal Arithmetic and discovering new applications of Digital Root s.


PERSONAL LIFE

In 1884 Dudeney married Alice Whittier, a writer who published a number of short stories in '' Harper's Magazine '' under the name "Mrs. Henry Dudeney". They had one child together.

In addition to puzzles, Dudeney had hobbies including Billiards , Bowling , and especially Croquet . He was a skilled pianist and organist, interested in ancient church music and Plainsong . Dudeney was a devout Anglican who regularly attended services, studied theology, and on occasion wrote tracts defending church positions.


PUBLICATIONS

  • ''The Canterbury Puzzles'' (1907)

  • ''Amusements in Mathematics'' (1917)

  • ''The World's Best Word Puzzles'' (1925)

  • ''Modern Puzzles'' (1926)

  • ''Puzzles and Curious Problems'' (1931, posthumous)

  • ''A Puzzle-Mine'' (undated, posthumous)



REFERENCE

  • Gardner, Marvin. 536 Curious Problems & Puzzles: Introduction. Barnes & Noble Books, 1995. ISBN 1566198968



EXTERNAL LINKS