Did John H. Conway Pass Away?

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John Horton Conway, renowned mathematician and inventor of the Game of Life, has passed away due to COVID-19. Reports of his death have circulated on social media, but credible sources have confirmed the news, including an obituary from a local newspaper and statements from his widow. Wikipedia entries regarding Conway have also been updated to reflect this information. Many in the mathematics and programming communities have expressed their admiration for Conway, noting his significant contributions beyond the Game of Life, which he felt overshadowed his other work. Tributes highlight his influence on aspiring mathematicians and programmers, with various articles and personal anecdotes celebrating his legacy. Princeton University's Department of Mathematics officially announced his passing, and numerous online memorials and discussions have emerged in his honor.
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Sad.

There were a lot of reports on Twitter... but, at the time of this posting, nothing points to the usual reliable sources.
https://trenden.nice2have.jp/april-11th-2020-at-1300-john-conway-twitter-buzz/
Wikipedia has been going back and forth with edits... but now seems to have accepted it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Horton_Conway
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_things_named_after_John_Horton_Conway

The following seems the most reliable.


https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=4732 (claims to have a comment by John's widow)

https://dailyvoice.com/new-jersey/m...f-life-inventor-john-conway-in-3-days/786461/ (an online newspaper in that area near Princeton)

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/04/1...speels-genie-en-kenner-van-symmetrie-a3996590
John Horton Conway

https://www.math.princeton.edu/people/john-conway
https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=18849

I met him once at a math conference for students [like myself at the time] at Syracuse.
He complimented me on a talk I gave on a geometrical construction in relativity.

RIP.

robphy

https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0604079v1


more videos:


RIP
 
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Physics news on Phys.org
:cry: Requiescat in pace, John
 
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I really enjoyed his video on the Monster Group
 
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Interview with John Horton Conway
https://www.ams.org/notices/201305/rnoti-p567.pdfA Life in Games
https://www.quantamagazine.org/john-conways-life-in-games-20150828/

has this image

1586745083485.png

"A survey of Life-forms, from a 1970 letter to Martin Gardner.
Courtesy of James Gardner, Martin Gardner Papers, Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries"
 
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Professor Conway's 'game of life' was one of the most neato things I learned when I first stepped on the way to becoming a computer nerd. He was an inspiration to us. He will be sorely missed.
 




 
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RIP John Conway. I know he hated being famous for the game of life, since he thought his other more interesting work had been overshadowed. Anyway, this is my favorite game of life video.

 
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Prof. Conway was one of the all-time greats ##-## many aspiring programmers admired him ##-## in the early '80s one of my buddies wrote a tribute Game of Life program in PL1 that displayed nicely on a 3270 ##\dots##
 
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I gave my respect to him. RIP John Conway. :cry:
 
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