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111-618: Martin Gardner suggests the name Gillikin may be named after the purple blossoms of the gillyflower . Like all of the countries of Oz, the Gillikin Country contains various unusual sights, creatures, and places. Among them are: Note : The Gillikin Country is the only province of Oz not mentioned by name or visited by the characters in this particular book. The following locations are merely referenced by various characters through

222-515: A mass shooting occurred in a medical center, killing at least 4 people, including the perpetrator. The United States Oil and Gas Association was founded in Tulsa on October 13, 1917. Over the city's history many large oil companies have been headquartered in the city, including Warren Petroleum (which merged with Gulf Oil in what was then the largest merger in the energy industry), Skelly Oil , Getty Oil and CITGO . In addition, ConocoPhillips

333-491: A petroleum geologist , and his wife, Willie Wilkerson Spiers, a Montessori-trained teacher. His mother taught Martin to read before he started school, reading him The Wizard of Oz , and this began a lifelong interest in the Oz books of L. Frank Baum . His fascination with mathematics started in his boyhood when his father gave him a copy of Sam Loyd 's Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles, Tricks and Conundrums . He attended

444-758: A Psi-Watcher") for Skeptical Inquirer , that organization's monthly magazine. These columns have been collected in five books starting with The New Age: Notes of a Fringe Watcher in 1988. Gardner was a critic of self-proclaimed Israeli psychic Uri Geller and wrote two satirical booklets about him in the 1970s using the pen name "Uriah Fuller" in which he explained how such purported psychics do their seemingly impossible feats such as mentally bending spoons and reading minds . Martin Gardner continued to criticize junk science throughout his life. His targets included not just safe subjects like astrology and UFO sightings , but topics such as chiropractic , vegetarianism , Madame Blavatsky , creationism , Scientology ,

555-449: A bachelor's degree or higher, and 86.5% have a high school diploma or equivalent . The Tulsa metropolitan area , or the region immediately surrounding Tulsa with strong social and economic ties to the city, occupies a large portion of the state's northeastern quadrant. It is informally known as " Green Country ", a longstanding name adopted by the state's official tourism designation for all of northeastern Oklahoma (its usage concerning

666-786: A base in the sectors of aerospace , finance, technology, telecommunications, high tech , and manufacturing. A number of substantial financial corporations are headquartered in Tulsa, the largest being the BOK Financial Corporation . Among these financial services firms are energy trading operations, asset management firms, investment funds, and a range of commercial banks. The national convenience store chain QuikTrip , fast-casual restaurant chain Camille's Sidewalk Cafe , and pizza chain Mazzio's are all headquartered in Tulsa, as

777-586: A baseball stadium for the Tulsa Drillers opened in 2010. The city's historical residential core lies in an area known as Midtown, containing upscale neighborhoods built in the early 20th century with architecture ranging from art deco to Greek Revival . The University of Tulsa, the Swan Lake neighborhood, Philbrook Museum , and the upscale shopping districts of Utica Square , Cherry Street, and Brookside are located in this region. A large portion of

888-409: A column for Scientific American called "Mathematical Games". It ran for over a quarter century and dealt with the subject of recreational mathematics . The "Mathematical Games" column became the most popular feature of the magazine and was the first thing that many readers turned to. In September 1977 Scientific American acknowledged the prestige and popularity of Gardner's column by moving it from

999-648: A copy of it. Over seven thousand requests came pouring in, some of them from other countries. This caused significant consternation in the US defense agencies and possible legal problems for Gardner himself. The National Security Agency (NSA) asked the RSA team to stop distributing the report and one letter to the IEEE suggested that disseminating such information might be violating the Arms Export Control Act and

1110-459: A far greater debt to Martin Gardner than most conjurors realize. –Stephen Minch Martin Gardner held a lifelong fascination with magic and illusion that began when his father demonstrated a trick to him. He wrote for a magic magazine in high school and worked in a department store demonstrating magic tricks while he was at the University of Chicago. Gardner's first published writing (at

1221-486: A female householder with no husband present, and 41.9% were non-families. Of all households, 34.5% are made up of only one person, and 10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 people and the average family size was 3.04. In the city proper, the age distribution was 24.8% of the population under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older, while

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1332-646: A free-standing article on hexaflexagons which ran in the December 1956 issue of Scientific American . Flexagons became a bit of a fad and soon people all over New York City were making them. Gerry Piel, the SA publisher at the time, asked Gardner, "Is there enough similar material to this to make a regular feature?" Gardner said he thought so. The January 1957 issue contained his first column, entitled "Mathematical Games". Almost 300 more columns were to follow. It ran from 1956 to 1981 with sporadic columns afterwards and

1443-538: A hub of this network helped facilitate several introductions that led to further fruitful collaborations. Mathematicians Conway, Berlekamp, and Guy, who met as a result of Gardner's influence, would go on to write Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays , a foundational book in combinatorial game theory that Gardner subsequently championed. Gardner also introduced Conway to Benoit Mandelbrot because he knew of their mutual interest in Penrose tiles . Gardner's network

1554-562: A large conservative following, with the majority of Tulsans being Christians. The second-largest religion in Tulsa is Islam, followed by Buddhism and Judaism. Tulsa is part of the Southern region demographers and commentators refer to as the " Bible Belt ," where Protestant and, in particular, Southern Baptist and other evangelical Christian traditions are very prominent. In fact, Tulsa, home to Oral Roberts University , Phillips Theological Seminary , and RHEMA Bible Training College (in

1665-548: A lot of criticism from the advocates of alternative science and New Age philosophy . He kept up running dialogues (both public and private) with many of them for decades. In a review of Science: Good, Bad and Bogus , Stephen Jay Gould called Gardner "The Quack Detector", a writer who "expunge[d] nonsense" and in so doing had "become a priceless national resource." In 1976 Gardner joined with fellow skeptics philosopher Paul Kurtz , psychologist Ray Hyman , sociologist Marcello Truzzi , and stage magician James Randi to found

1776-518: A major impact on mathematics in the second half of the 20th century. His column ran for 25 years and was read avidly by the generation of mathematicians and physicists who grew up in the years 1956 to 1981. His writing inspired, directly or indirectly, many who would go on to careers in mathematics, science, and other related endeavors. Gardner's admirers included such diverse individuals as W. H. Auden , Arthur C. Clarke , Carl Sagan , Isaac Asimov , Richard Dawkins , Stephen Jay Gould , and

1887-730: A monthly column on magic tricks called "Trick of the Month" in The Physics Teacher , a journal published by the American Association of Physics Teachers . In 1999 Magic magazine named Gardner one of the "100 Most Influential Magicians of the Twentieth Century". In 2005 he received a 'Lifetime Achievement Fellowship' from the Academy of Magical Arts . The last work to be published during his lifetime

1998-643: A number of the ranch and Mid-Century Modern homes that reflect Tulsa's prosperous post-war period. The BOK Tower , built during this period, is the second tallest building in Oklahoma and the surrounding states of Missouri, New Mexico , Arkansas , and Kansas. Tulsa also has the third-, and fourth-tallest buildings in the state, including the Cityplex Tower , which is located in South Tulsa across from Oral Roberts University, far from downtown. One of

2109-540: A regional hub with substantial innovation assets. Products from Tulsa manufacturers account for about sixty percent of Oklahoma's exports, and in 2001, the city's total gross product was in the top one-third of metropolitan areas, states, and countries, with more than $ 29 billion in total goods, growing at a rate of $ 250 million each year. Tulsa's primary employers are small and medium-sized businesses: there are 30 companies in Tulsa that employ more than 1,000 people locally, and small businesses make up more than 80% of

2220-679: A severe flood caused by a stalled weather front that dropped 15 in (380 mm) of rain overnight, killing 14, injuring 288, and destroying 7,000 buildings totaling $ 180 million in damage. In the early 1990s and again in 2000, the Federal Emergency Management Agency honored Tulsa as leading the nation in flood plain management. Triple-digit temperatures (≥38 °C) are observed on average 11 days per year, most of which occur from July to early September, and are usually accompanied by high humidity brought in by southerly winds. The highest recorded temperature

2331-544: A venue for major concerts and conventions. The multi-purpose arena, designed by famed architect Cesar Pelli , broke ground in 2005 and was opened on August 30, 2008. In July 2020 the Supreme Court ruled in McGirt v. Oklahoma that as it pertains to criminal law much of eastern Oklahoma, including Tulsa, remains as Native American lands. Specifically, prosecution of crimes by Native Americans on these lands falls into

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2442-634: A writer and editor at Humpty Dumpty magazine, where for eight years, he wrote features and stories for it and several other children's magazines. His paper-folding puzzles at that magazine led to his first work at Scientific American. For many decades, Gardner, his wife Charlotte, and their two sons, Jim and Tom, lived in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York , where he earned his living as a freelance author, publishing books with several different publishers, and also publishing hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. In 1950, he wrote an article in

2553-569: Is Southern regional BBQ restaurant Rib Crib . Tulsa is also home to the Marshall Brewing Company . Tulsa is also home to a burgeoning media industry, including PennWell , consumer review website ConsumerAffairs , Stephens Media Group , This Land Press , Educational Development Corporation (the parent publisher of Kane/Miller ), GEB America , Blooming Twig Books, and a full range of local media outlets, including Tulsa World and local magazines, radio and television. Tulsa

2664-464: Is also home to the progressive All Souls Unitarian Church , reportedly the largest Unitarian Universalist congregation in the United States. Chùa Tam Bào (Vietnamese: "Three Jewels Temple"), then Oklahoma's only Buddhist temple, was established in east Tulsa in 1993 by Vietnamese refugees. A 57-foot-tall (17 m) granite statue of Quan Âm (commonly known by her Chinese name, Guanyin )

2775-424: Is an anagram of "Mathematical Games". Virtually all of the games columns were collected in book form starting in 1959 with The Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions . Over the next four decades fourteen more books followed. Donald Knuth called them the canonical books . His depth and clarity will illuminate our world for a long time. – Persi Diaconis Martin Gardner had

2886-739: Is considered Indian Territory , on the land of the Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), Wahzhazhe Ma zha ( Osage ), Muscogee (Creek), and Caddo tribes, among others, before it was first formally settled by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in 1836. They established a small settlement under the Creek Council Oak Tree at the present-day intersection of Cheyenne Avenue and 18th Street. They named their new settlement Tallasi , meaning "old town" in Creek, which later became "Tulsa". The area around Tulsa

2997-649: Is located in the grounds. Tulsa experienced elevated levels of gang violence in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when crack cocaine flooded neighborhoods in North Tulsa. Tulsa gang problems became noticeable after an outbreak of gang-related crime between 1980 and 1983, which was traced to the Crips, a local gang which had been founded by two brothers whose family had recently moved to Oklahoma from Compton . In 1986, gang graffiti started to show up on walls and drive-by shootings started occurring on late nights. In 1990

3108-544: Is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma , after Oklahoma City , and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census . It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa metropolitan area , a region with 1,034,123 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Tulsa County , the most densely populated county in Oklahoma, with urban development extending into Osage , Rogers and Wagoner counties. Tulsa

3219-495: Is unique – in its range, its insight, and understanding of hard questions that matter." Gardner repeatedly alerted the public (and other mathematicians) to recent discoveries in mathematics–recreational and otherwise. In addition to introducing many first-rate puzzles and topics such as Penrose tiles and Conway's Game of Life , he was equally adept at writing columns about traditional mathematical topics such as knot theory , Fibonacci numbers , Pascal's triangle ,

3330-589: Is water. A building boom in Tulsa in the early 20th century coincided with the rise of art deco architecture in the United States. Most commonly in the zigzag and streamline styles, the city's art deco is dotted throughout its older neighborhoods, primarily in downtown and midtown. A collection of large art deco structures such as the Mid-Continent Tower , the Boston Avenue Methodist Church , Will Rogers High School , and

3441-613: The Antioch Review entitled "The Hermit Scientist". It was one of Gardner's earliest articles about junk science , and in 1952 a much-expanded version became his first published book: In the Name of Science: An Entertaining Survey of the High Priests and Cultists of Science, Past and Present . The year 1960 saw the original edition of the best-selling book of his career, The Annotated Alice . In 1957 Gardner started writing

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3552-473: The 2020 census , its population increased to 413,066. As of the 2010 census , there were 391,906 people, 163,975 households, and 95,246 families residing in the city, with a population density of 2,033.4 inhabitants per square mile (785.1/km ) There were 185,127 housing units at an average density of 982.3 per square mile (379.3/km ). Of 163,975 households, 27% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.2% were married couples living together, 14.6% had

3663-657: The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (now called the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry). Intellectuals including astronomer Carl Sagan , author and biochemist Isaac Asimov , psychologist B. F. Skinner , and journalist Philip J. Klass became fellows of the program. From 1983 to 2002 he wrote a monthly column called "Notes of a Fringe Watcher" (originally "Notes of

3774-780: The International Traffic in Arms Regulations . In the end the defense establishment could provide no legal basis for suppressing the new technology, and when a detailed paper about RSA was published in Communications of the ACM , the NSA’s crypto monopoly was effectively terminated. Martin Gardner is the single brightest beacon defending rationality and good science against the mysticism and anti-intellectualism that surround us. – Stephen Jay Gould Gardner

3885-648: The Laffer curve , Christian Science , and the Hutchins-Adler Great Books Movement . The last thing he wrote in the spring of 2010 (a month before his death) was an article excoriating the "dubious medical opinions and bogus science" of Oprah Winfrey  – particularly her support for the thoroughly discredited theory that vaccinations cause autism ; it went on to bemoan the "needless deaths of children" that such notions are likely to cause. Skeptical Inquirer named him one of

3996-458: The Möbius strip , transfinite numbers , four-dimensional space , Zeno's paradoxes , Fermat's Last Theorem , and the four-color problem . Gardner set a new high standard for writing about mathematics. In a 2004 interview he said, "I go up to calculus, and beyond that I don't understand any of the papers that are being written. I consider that that was an advantage for the type of column I

4107-610: The Osage Hills extension into the northwestern part of the city further varies the landscape. Holmes Peak, north of the city, is the tallest point in the Tulsa Metro area at 1,360 ft (415 m) According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 186.8 square miles (484 km ), of which 182.6 square miles (473 km ) is land and 4.2 square miles (11 km ) (2.24%)

4218-565: The Philtower , have attracted events promoting the preservation and architectural interest. In addition, the city's early prosperity funded the construction of many elegant Craftsmen, Georgian, storybook, Tudor, Greek Revival, Italianate , Spanish revival , and colonial revival homes (many of which can be found in Tulsa's uptown and Midtown neighborhoods). Noted architects and firms working in Tulsa during this period include Charles Dilbeck, John Duncan Forsyth , and Nelle Peters . Growth in

4329-620: The University of Chicago where he studied history, literature and sciences under their intellectually-stimulating Great Books curriculum and earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1936. Early jobs included reporter on the Tulsa Tribune , writer at the University of Chicago Office of Press Relations, and case worker in Chicago's Black Belt for the city's Relief Administration. During World War II , he served for four years in

4440-400: The game of Hex invented by Piet Hein and John Nash ; Tutte's account of squaring the square ; and many other topics. The wide array of mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, philosophers, magicians, artists, writers, and other influential thinkers who can be counted as part of Gardner's mathematical grapevine includes: These new ciphers are not absolutely unbreakable in

4551-520: The rep-tiles and pentominos of Solomon W. Golomb; the space filling curves of Bill Gosper; the aperiodic tiles of Roger Penrose; the Game of Life invented by John H. Conway; the superellipse and the Soma cube of Piet Hein; the trapdoor functions of Diffie , Hellman , and Merkle ; the flexagons of Stone , Tuckerman , Feynman , and Tukey; the geometrical delights in a book by H. S. M. Coxeter;

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4662-504: The 20th century brought a wealth of modern architecture to Tulsa. Tulsa's Mies-trained modernist Robert Lawton Jones designed many buildings in the region, including the Tulsa International Airport. Other noted modernists working in Tulsa include the pioneering Texas architect O'Neil Ford and Joseph R. Koberling Jr. , who had also been active during the art deco period. South, East, and Midtown Tulsa are home to

4773-488: The Central United States. Located near the western edge of the U.S. Interior Highlands , northeastern Oklahoma is the most topographically diverse part of the state, containing seven of Oklahoma's 11 eco-regions and more than half of its state parks. The region encompasses 30 lakes or reservoirs and borders the neighboring states of Kansas , Missouri , and Arkansas . The city developed on both sides of

4884-737: The Gillikinese capital, Shiz. From there, most of the Gillikinese cities are interconnected by the Great Gillikin Railway, which runs across the country along with the Gillikin River. (It is implied that the railway was built on the former route of the Yellow Brick Road.) In the west are the Pertha Hills, a mountainous region home to dairy farms, ancient pagan temples dedicated to fairy queen Lurline, and

4995-614: The Soma Cube . Charlotte died in 2000 and in 2004 Gardner returned to Oklahoma, where his son, James Gardner, was a professor of education at the University of Oklahoma in Norman . He died there on May 22, 2010. An autobiography – Undiluted Hocus-Pocus: The Autobiography of Martin Gardner  – was published posthumously. I just play all the time and am fortunate enough to get paid for it. – Martin Gardner, 1998 The "Mathematical Games" column began with

5106-643: The Ten Outstanding Skeptics of the Twentieth Century. In 2010 he was posthumously honored with an award for his contributions in the skeptical field from the Independent Investigations Group . In 1982 the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry awarded Gardner its In Praise of Reason Award for his "heroic efforts in defense of reason and the dignity of the skeptical attitude", and in 2011 it added Gardner to its Pantheon of Skeptics. Card magic, and magic in general, owe

5217-693: The Tulsa Metropolitan Area can be traced to the early part of the 20th century). The U.S. Census Bureau defines the sphere of the city's influence as the Tulsa metropolitan statistical area (MSA), spanning seven counties: Tulsa, Rogers , Osage, Wagoner, Okmulgee , Pawnee , and Creek . The 2020 U.S. census shows the Tulsa MSA to have 1,015,331 residents The 2020 U.S. census shows the Tulsa-Muscogee-Bartlesville CSA to have 1,134,125 residents. Tulsa has

5328-574: The Twentieth Century". He was considered the doyen of American puzzlers. He was a prolific and versatile author, publishing more than 100 books. Gardner was best known for creating and sustaining interest in recreational mathematics —and by extension, mathematics in general—throughout the latter half of the 20th century, principally through his "Mathematical Games" columns. These appeared for twenty-five years in Scientific American , and his subsequent books collecting them. Gardner

5439-579: The U.S. Navy as a yeoman on board the destroyer escort USS Pope in the Atlantic . His ship was still in the Atlantic when the war came to an end with the surrender of Japan in August 1945. After the war, Gardner returned to the University of Chicago. He attended graduate school for a year there, but he did not earn an advanced degree. In the late 1940s, Gardner moved to New York City and became

5550-675: The United States at the time. Located in the Greenwood neighborhood, it was the site of the Tulsa Race Massacre , said to be "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history ", in which mobs of White Tulsans killed Black Tulsans, looted and robbed the Black community, and burned down homes and businesses. Sixteen hours of massacring on May 31 and June 1, 1921, ended only when National Guardsmen were brought in by

5661-420: The advent of the personal computer." Colm Mulcahy described him as "without doubt the best friend mathematics ever had." Gardner's column introduced the public to books such as A K Dewdney ’s Planiverse and Douglas Hofstadter ’s Gödel, Escher, Bach . His writing was credited as both broad and deep. Noam Chomsky once wrote, "Martin Gardner's contribution to contemporary intellectual culture

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5772-597: The age of fifteen) was a magic trick in The Sphinx , the official magazine of the Society of American Magicians . He focused mainly on micromagic (table or close-up magic) and, from the 1930s on, published a significant number of original contributions to this secretive field. Magician Joe M. Turner said, The Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic , which Gardner wrote in 1985, "is guaranteed to show up in any poll of magicians' favorite magic books." His first magic book for

5883-416: The area with a disproportionate share of its annual rainfall. Severe weather is not limited to this season, however. For instance, on December 5, 1975, and on December 24, 1982, Tulsa experienced tornadoes. Due to its potential for major flooding events , the city has developed one of the most extensive flood control systems in the nation. A comprehensive flood management plan was developed in 1984 following

5994-845: The area's historic architecture. Much of Tulsa's convention space is located in downtown, such as the Tulsa Performing Arts Center , the Tulsa Convention Center , and the BOK Center . Prominent downtown sub-districts include the Blue Dome District, the Brady Arts district, the "Oil Capital Historic District", the Greenwood Historical District, Owen Park Historical Neighborhood, and the site of ONEOK Field ,

6105-411: The area's unique architectural complexes, Oral Roberts University, is built in a Post-Modern Futuristic style, incorporating bright gold structures with sharp, jetting edges and clear geometric shapes. The BOK Center , Tulsa's new arena, incorporates many of the city's most prominent themes, including Native American, art deco, and contemporary architectural styles. Intended to be an architectural icon,

6216-403: The back to the very front of the magazine. In 1979, Gardner left Scientific American . He and his wife Charlotte moved to Hendersonville, North Carolina . He continued to write math articles, sending them to The Mathematical Intelligencer , Math Horizons , The College Mathematics Journal , and Scientific American . He also revised some of his older books such as Origami, Eleusis, and

6327-428: The base for the group, which is largely credited for creating Western Swing music. The venue continued to attract famous musicians through its history, and is still in operation today. For the rest of the mid-20th century, the city had a master plan to construct parks, churches, museums, rose gardens, improved infrastructure, and increased national advertising. The Spavinaw Dam , built during this era to accommodate

6438-543: The building was designed by César Pelli , the architect of the Petronas Towers in Malaysia . Downtown Tulsa is an area of approximately 1.4 square miles (3.6 km ) surrounded by an inner-dispersal loop created by Interstate 244, Highway 64, and Highway 75. The area serves as Tulsa's financial and business district, and is the focus of a large initiative to draw tourism, which includes plans to capitalize on

6549-602: The city have sports teams at the NCAA Division I level: the University of Tulsa and Oral Roberts University . As well, the University of Oklahoma has a secondary campus at the Tulsa Schusterman Center, and Oklahoma State University has a secondary campus located in downtown Tulsa. For most of the 20th century, the city held the nickname " Oil Capital of the World " and played a major role as one of

6660-440: The city hit a record of 60 homicides, the highest since the 1981 peak. North Tulsa has the highest crime rate in the city, with public housing projects being the most heavily affected areas. , the Broken Arrow murders took place on July 22, 2015, when five members of the Bever family were murdered in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma . the attackers were identified as 18 year-old Robert Bever and 16 year-old Michael Bever. On June 1, 2022,

6771-435: The city was in a significant economic development and investment surge. This economic improvement is also seen in Tulsa's housing trends which show an average of a 6% increase in rent in 2010. Since 2006, more than 28,000 jobs have been added to the city. The unemployment rate of Tulsa in August 2014 was 4.5%. Though the oil industry has historically dominated Tulsa's economy, efforts in economic diversification have created

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6882-471: The city's companies. During a national recession from 2001 to 2003, the city lost 28,000 jobs. In response, a development initiative, Vision 2025 , promised to incite economic growth and recreate lost jobs. Projects spurred by the initiative promised urban revitalization, infrastructure improvement, tourism development, riverfront retail development, and further diversification of the economy. By 2007, employment levels had surpassed pre-recession heights and

6993-421: The city's demographics from neighboring communities (Tulsa has larger and more prominent Catholic and Jewish populations than most Oklahoma cities) and is reflected in the designs of early Tulsa's upscale neighborhoods. Known as the "Oil Capital of the World" for most of the 20th century, the city's success in the energy industry prompted construction booms in the popular Art Deco style of the time. Profits from

7104-399: The city's southern half has developed since the 1970s, containing low-density housing and retail developments. This region, marked by secluded homes and suburban neighborhoods, contains one of the state's largest shopping malls, Woodland Hills Mall , as well as Southern Hills Country Club , and Oral Roberts University. East of Highway 169 and north of 61st street, a diverse racial makeup marks

7215-424: The city's water needs, was considered one of the largest public works projects of the era. A national recession greatly affected the city's economy in 1982, as areas of Texas and Oklahoma heavily dependent on oil suffered the freefall in gas prices due to a glut, and a mass exodus of oil industries. Tulsa, heavily dependent on the oil industry, was one of the hardest-hit cities by the fall of oil prices. By 1992,

7326-415: The drier plains of the west to the wetter forests of the east. With a wetter climate than points westward, Tulsa serves as a gateway to " Green Country ", a popular and official designation for northeast Oklahoma that stems from the region's green vegetation and relatively large number of hills and lakes compared to central and western areas of Oklahoma, which lie largely in the drier Great Plains region of

7437-431: The eastern portions of the city, with large Asian and Mexican communities and much of the city's manufacturing industry. Areas of Tulsa west of the Arkansas River are called West Tulsa and are marked by large parks, wilderness reserves, and large oil refineries. The northern tier of the city is home to OSU-Tulsa , Gilcrease Museum , Tulsa International Airport , the Tulsa Zoo , the Tulsa Air and Space Museum , and

7548-428: The end of August is frequently dry. On average, Tulsa experiences a secondary rainfall peak in September and early October. As is typical of temperate zones, weather patterns vary by season with occasional extremes in temperature and rainfall. Primarily in the spring and early summer months, the city is subjected to severe thunderstorms containing large hail , damaging winds, and, occasionally, tornadoes , providing

7659-517: The entire French literary group known as the Oulipo . Salvador Dalí once sought him out to discuss four-dimensional hypercubes . David Auerbach wrote: "A case can be made, in purely practical terms, for Martin Gardner as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. His popularizations of science and mathematical games in Scientific American, over the 25 years he wrote for them, might have helped create more young mathematicians and computer scientists than any other single factor prior to

7770-409: The first chapter of his "best of" collection, The Colossal Book of Mathematics . In the 1980s "Mathematical Games" began to appear only irregularly. Other authors began to share the column, and the June 1986 issue saw the final installment under that title. In 1981, on Gardner's retirement from Scientific American , the column was replaced by Douglas Hofstadter 's " Metamagical Themas ", a name that

7881-417: The four Princeton University professors who had invented and investigated their mathematical properties. The subsequent article Gardner wrote on hexaflexagons led directly to the column. Gardner's son Jim once asked him what was his favorite puzzle, and Gardner answered almost immediately: " The monkey and the coconuts ". It had been the subject of his April 1958 Games column and in 2001 he chose to make it

7992-639: The general public, Mathematics, Magic and Mystery (Dover, 1956), is still considered a classic in the field. He was well known for his innovative tapping and spelling effects, with and without playing cards , and was most proud of the effect he called the "Wink Change". Many of Gardner's lifelong friends were magicians. These included William Simon who introduced Gardner to Charlotte Greenwald, whom he married in 1952, Dai Vernon , Jerry Andrus , statistician Persi Diaconis , and polymath Raymond Smullyan . Gardner considered fellow magician James Randi his closest friend. Diaconis and Smullyan like Gardner straddled

8103-461: The governor. An official report later claimed that 23 Black and 16 White citizens were killed, but other estimates suggest as many as 300 people died, most of them Black. Over 800 people were admitted to local hospitals with injuries, and an estimated 1,000 Black people were left homeless as 35 city blocks, composed of 1,256 residences, were destroyed by fire. Property damage was estimated at $ 1.8 million . Efforts to obtain reparations for survivors of

8214-662: The jurisdiction of the tribal courts and federal judiciary under the Major Crimes Act , rather than Oklahoma's courts. Tulsa is located in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma between the edge of the Great Plains and the foot of the Ozarks in a generally forested region of rolling hills. The city touches the eastern extent of the Cross Timbers , an ecoregion of forest and prairie transitioning from

8325-611: The kingdom of Tonsoria, homes to Princesses Ayala and Talia, and in Absurd City, home of the Parrot-Ox. Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914 – May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing magic , scientific skepticism , micromagic , philosophy , religion , and literature  – especially

8436-653: The legendary Wild Bunch , the Dalton Gang , and Little Britches . Around August 1, 1882, the town was almost centered at a location just north of the current Whittier Square, when a construction crew laying out the line of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad chose that spot for a sidetrack. However, an area merchant persuaded them to move the site further west into the Muscogee Nation, which had friendlier laws for white business owners. On January 18, 1898, Tulsa

8547-540: The lost continents of Atlantis and Lemuria , Immanuel Velikovsky's Worlds in Collision , the reincarnation of Bridey Murphy , Wilhelm Reich's orgone theory , the spontaneous generation of life , extra-sensory perception and psychokinesis , homeopathy , phrenology , palmistry , graphology , and numerology . This book and his subsequent efforts ( Science: Good, Bad and Bogus , 1981; Order and Surprise , 1983, Gardner's Whys & Wherefores , 1989, etc.) provoked

8658-538: The material I got from them, so I owe them a big debt of gratitude." Gardner prepared each of his columns in a painstaking and scholarly fashion and conducted copious correspondence to be sure that everything was fact-checked for mathematical accuracy. Communication was often by postcard or telephone and Gardner kept meticulous notes of everything, typically on index cards. Archives of some of his correspondence stored at Stanford University occupy some 63 linear feet of shelf space. This correspondence led to columns about

8769-424: The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.5 males, while for every 100 females over the age of 17 there were 90.4 males. In 2011, the median income for a household in the city was $ 40,268 and the median income for a family was $ 51,977. The per capita income for the city was $ 26,727. About 19.4% of the population were below the poverty line. Of the city's population over the age of 25, 29.8% holds

8880-668: The most important hubs for the American oil industry . It is situated on the Arkansas River between the Osage Hills and the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in northeast Oklahoma, a region of the state known as " Green Country ". Considered the cultural and arts center of Oklahoma, Tulsa houses two art museums, full-time professional opera and ballet companies, and one of the nation's largest concentrations of art deco architecture. The area where Tulsa now exists

8991-406: The most recent such occurrence being a −2 °F (−19 °C) reading on January 16, 2024. The average seasonal snowfall is 8.7 inches (22.1 cm) with the record highest seasonal snowfall of 26.1 inches (66.3 cm) occurring in the winter of 2010–2011. Only three winters on record have officially recorded trace amounts or no snowfall, the most recent being 1910–11. The lowest recorded temperature

9102-537: The nation's third-largest municipal park, Mohawk Park . Tulsa has a temperate climate of the humid subtropical variety ( Köppen : Cfa ) with a yearly average temperature of 61.3 °F (16.3 °C) and average precipitation of just under 41 inches (1,000 mm) per year. Average monthly precipitation is lowest from December to February, and peaks dramatically in May, which averages 5.9 inches (150 mm) of rainfall. Early June can still be wet, but late June through

9213-574: The nickname the "Birthplace of Route 66". Once completed, U.S. Route 66 took an important role in Tulsa's development as the city served as a popular rest stop for travelers, who were greeted by Route 66 icons such as the Meadow Gold Sign and the Blue Whale of Catoosa . During this period, Bob Wills and his group, The Texas Playboys , began their long performing stint at a small ballroom in downtown Tulsa. In 1935, Cain's Ballroom became

9324-604: The north side of Tulsa and several battles and skirmishes took place in nearby counties. After the War, the tribes signed Reconstruction treaties with the federal government that in some cases required substantial land concessions. In the years after the Civil War and around the turn of the century, the area along the Arkansas River that is now Tulsa was periodically home to or visited by a series of colorful outlaws, including

9435-479: The oil industry continued through the Great Depression , helping the city's economy fare better than most in the United States during the 1930s. In 1923, Harwelden was built by oil baron E. P. Harwell and his wife Mary, and is an example of prosperity in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the 1920s. In the early 20th century, Tulsa was home to the " Black Wall Street ", one of the most prosperous Black communities in

9546-546: The present-day town of Glenpool ) prompted a rush of entrepreneurs to the area's growing number of oil fields; Tulsa's population swelled to over 140,000 between 1901 and 1930. Unlike the early settlers of Northeastern Oklahoma, who most frequently migrated from the South and Texas , many of these new oil-driven settlers came to Tulsa from the commercial centers of the East Coast and lower Midwest. This migration distinguished

9657-634: The prominent Arkansas River , which flows in a wide, sandy-bottomed channel. Its flow through Tulsa is controlled by reservoirs at Keystone Lake , and a low-water dam was built at Zink Lake in downtown Tulsa to maintain a full channel at all times. This dam deteriorated and eventually failed, and was repaired and reopened in 2014. Heavily wooded and with abundant parks and water areas, the city has several prominent hills, such as "Shadow Mountain" and " Turkey Mountain ", which create varied terrain, especially in its southern portions. While its central and northern sections are generally flat to gently undulating,

9768-586: The sense of the one-time pad. but in practice they are unbreakable in a much stronger sense than any cipher previously designed for widespread use. In principle these new ciphers can be broken. but only by computer programs that run for millions of years! –Martin Gardner In his August 1977 column, "A new kind of cipher that would take millions of years to break", Gardner described a new cryptographic system invented by Ron Rivest , Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman . The system, based on trapdoor functions ,

9879-663: The state of Oklahoma has fewer Roman Catholics than the national average, Holy Family Cathedral serves as the Cathedral for the Diocese of Tulsa. Tulsa is also home to the largest Jewish community in Oklahoma, with active Reform, Conservative and Orthodox congregations. Tulsa's Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art offers the largest collection of Judaica in the South-Central and Southwestern United States. Tulsa

9990-402: The state's economy had fully recovered, but leaders worked to expand into sectors unrelated to oil and energy. In 2003, the " Vision 2025 " program was approved by voters, to enhance and revitalize Tulsa's infrastructure and tourism industry. The keystone project of the initiative, the BOK Center , was designed to be a home for the city's minor league hockey and arena football teams, as well as

10101-576: The story. In Gregory Maguire 's revisionist Oz novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and Son of a Witch , the Gillikin Country is simply called 'Gillikin'. It is portrayed as more prosperous and industrially developed than other regions of Oz, and is home of Shiz University. The Yellow Brick Road emerges from the Emerald City's northern Shiz Gate and leads to

10212-628: The suburb of Broken Arrow ), is sometimes called the " buckle of the Bible Belt ". Tulsa is also home to a number of vibrant Mainline Protestant congregations. Some of these congregations were founded during the oil boom of the early twentieth century and are noted for striking architecture, such as the art deco Boston Avenue Methodist Church and First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa . The metropolitan area has at least four religious radio stations ( KCFO , KNYD , KXOJ , & KPIM ), and at least two religious TV stations ( KWHB & KGEB ). While

10323-887: The tallest mountain in Oz, Mount Rouncible. In the east, the Great Gillikin Forest is home to a tribe of northern bears and lions living on the shores of Lake Corge. The railway keeps running further east to The Glikkus, where emerald mines are worked by miner trolls. Galinda (i.e. Glinda ) hails from Gillikin, as do (according to some) the ruling Ozma family. The people of this province are referred to as 'Gillikinese', and are distinguishable by their prominent foreheads and slightly gapped front teeth. They often have heads of curling blond hair, and are believed to be temperamental by non-Gillikinese. Much of both of Edward Einhorn 's modern Oz novels, Paradox in Oz and The Living House of Oz , are set in Gillikin Country. They feature

10434-536: The twentieth century gave the city a larger base of contemporary architectural styles, including several buildings by famed Tulsa architects Bruce Goff and Adah Robinson . The Prairie School was very influential in Tulsa: Barry Byrne designed Tulsa's Christ the King Church and, in 1927, Frank Lloyd Wright 's midtown Tulsa residential project Westhope was completed. In particular, the middle of

10545-463: The two worlds of mathematics and magic. Mathematics and magic were frequently intertwined in Gardner's work. One of his earliest books, Mathematics, Magic and Mystery (1956), was about mathematically based magic tricks. Mathematical magic tricks were often featured in his "Mathematical Games" column–for example, his August 1962 column was titled "A variety of diverting tricks collected at a fictitious convention of magicians." From 1998 to 2002 he wrote

10656-405: The violence have been unsuccessful, but the events were re-examined by the city and state in the early 21st century, acknowledging the terrible actions that had taken place. In 1925, Tulsa businessman Cyrus Avery , known as the "Father of Route 66 ," began his campaign to create a road linking Chicago to Los Angeles by establishing the U.S. Highway 66 Association in Tulsa, earning the city

10767-409: The writings of Lewis Carroll , L. Frank Baum , and G. K. Chesterton . He was a leading authority on Lewis Carroll; The Annotated Alice , which incorporated the text of Carroll's two Alice books, was his most successful work and sold over a million copies. He had a lifelong interest in magic and illusion and in 1999, MAGIC magazine named him as one of the "100 Most Influential Magicians of

10878-674: Was 115 °F (46 °C) on August 10, 1936. Lack of air circulation due to heat and humidity during the summer months leads to higher concentrations of ozone , prompting the city to release "Ozone Alerts", encouraging all parties to do their part in complying with the Clean Air Act and United States Environmental Protection Agency standards. The autumn season is usually short, consisting of pleasant, sunny days followed by cool nights. Winter temperatures, while generally mild, dip below 10 °F (−12 °C) on average three nights per year, and occasionally below 0 °F (−18 °C),

10989-509: Was a critic of fringe science . His book Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (1952, revised 1957) launched the modern skeptical movement. It debunked dubious movements and theories including Fletcherism , Lamarckism , food faddism , Dowsing Rods , Charles Fort , Rudolf Steiner , Dianetics , the Bates method for improving eyesight , Einstein deniers , the Flat Earth theory ,

11100-523: Was a magic trick in the May 2010 issue of Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics . I am a philosophical theist. I believe in a personal God, and I believe in an afterlife, and I believe in prayer, but I don't believe in any established religion. This is called philosophical theism. ... Philosophical theism is entirely emotional. As Kant said, he destroyed pure reason to make room for faith. – Martin Gardner, 2008 Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( / ˈ t ʌ l s ə / TUL -sə )

11211-484: Was also responsible for introducing Doris Schattschneider and Marjorie Rice , who worked together to document the newly discovered pentagon tilings. Gardner credited his network with generating further material for his columns: "When I first started the column, I was not in touch with any mathematicians, and gradually mathematicians who were creative in the field found out about the column and began corresponding with me. So my most interesting columns were columns based on

11322-656: Was also settled by members of the other so-called " Five Civilized Tribes " who had been relocated to Oklahoma from the Southern United States. Most of modern Tulsa is located in the Creek Nation , with parts located in the Cherokee and Osage Nations . Although Oklahoma was not yet a state during the Civil War , the Tulsa area saw its share of fighting. The Battle of Chusto-Talasah took place on

11433-771: Was doing because I had to understand what I was writing about, and that enabled me to write in such a way that an average reader could understand what I was saying. If you are writing popularly about math, I think it's good not to know too much math." John Horton Conway called him "the most learned man I have ever met." He had carried on incredibly interesting exchanges with hundreds of mathematicians, as well as with artists and polymaths such as Maurits Escher and Piet Hein. – AMS Notices Gardner maintained an extensive network of experts and amateurs with whom he regularly exchanged information and ideas. Doris Schattschneider would later term this circle of collaborators "Gardner's mathematical grapevine" or "MG . Gardner's role as

11544-587: Was headquartered in nearby Bartlesville . Industry consolidation and increased offshore drilling threatened Tulsa's status as an oil capital, but new drilling techniques and the rise of natural gas have buoyed the growth of the city's energy sector. Today, Tulsa is again home to the headquarters of many international oil- and gas-related companies, including Williams Companies , ONE Gas , Syntroleum , ONEOK , Laredo Petroleum , Samson Resources, Helmerich & Payne , Magellan Midstream Partners , and Excel Energy. Tulsa has diversified to capitalize on its status as

11655-434: Was known as RSA (after the three researchers) and has become a component of the majority of secure data transmission schemes. Since RSA is a relatively slow algorithm it is not widely used to directly encrypt data.  More often, it is used to transmit shared keys for  symmetric-key cryptography . Gardner identified the memorandum that his column was based on and invited readers to write to Rivest to request

11766-644: Was later bulldozed, and rebuilt in 2019. According to the 2010 census , Tulsa had a population of 391,906 and the racial and ethnic composition was as follows: White American : 62.6% (57.9% Non-Hispanic Whites ); Black , 15.6%; Hispanic or Latino (of any race), 14.1% (11.5% Mexican , 0.4% Puerto Rican , 0.3% Guatemalan , 0.2% Spanish , 0.2% Honduran , 0.2% Salvadoran ); some other race, 8.0%; Two or more races , 5.9%; Native American , 5.3%; Asian American , 2.3% (0.5% Hmong , 0.4% Vietnamese , 0.3% Chinese , 0.2% Indian , 0.2% Korean , 0.2% Burmese ); and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander : 0.1%. In

11877-571: Was officially incorporated and elected Edward E. Calkins as the city's first mayor. Tulsa was still a micro town near the banks of the Arkansas River in 1901 when its first oil well, named Sue Bland No. 1, was established. Much of the oil was discovered on land whose mineral rights were owned by members of the Osage Nation under a system of headrights. By 1905, the discovery of the grand Glenn Pool Oil Reserve (located approximately 15 miles or 24 kilometers south of downtown Tulsa and site of

11988-444: Was one of the foremost anti- pseudoscience polemicists of the 20th century. His 1957 book Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science is a seminal work of the skeptical movement. In 1976, he joined with fellow skeptics to found CSICOP , an organization promoting scientific inquiry and the use of reason in examining extraordinary claims. Martin Gardner was born into a prosperous family in Tulsa, Oklahoma , to James Henry Gardner,

12099-467: Was settled between 1828 and 1836 by the Lochapoka Band of Creek Native American tribe and most of Tulsa is still part of the territory of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation . Historically, a robust energy sector fueled Tulsa's economy; however, today the city has diversified and leading sectors include finance, aviation, telecommunications and technology. Two institutions of higher education within

12210-411: Was the first introduction of many subjects to a wider audience, notably: Gardner had problems learning calculus and never took a mathematics course after high school. While editing Humpty Dumpty Magazine he constructed many paper folding puzzles. At a magic show in 1956 fellow magician Royal Vale Heath introduced Gardner to the intricately folded paper shapes known as flexagons and steered him to

12321-570: Was −16 °F (−27 °C) on January 22, 1930. See or edit raw graph data . An EF2  tornado struck Tulsa early on the morning of Sunday, August 6, 2017. The funnel touched down just after 1 A.M. near 36th Street and Harvard Avenue, then travelled in an easterly direction for about six minutes. The heaviest property damage occurred along 41st Street between Yale Avenue and Sheridan Road. Two restaurants, TGI Friday's and Whataburger , were particularly hard hit, with several people being sent to hospitals for treatment. The Whataburger

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