John Conway

COVID-19 stalks the Earth, and today it claimed John Conway - perhaps most popularly know as the inventor of the Conway's Game of Life, but creator of an incredible legacy of mathematics.

There is a very nice interview with him on the Numberphile channel on YouTube where he discusses not just mathematics, but his life and what he has learned over the years as a mathematician and as a human going through life:

Two quotes that stand out today are these:

We're accustomed, really, in mathematics to have these problems that you don't expect to see solved in your lifetime.

— John Conway, "Life, Death and the Monster" (5:20)

The one thing I'd really like to know before I die is why the monster group exists.

— John Conway, "Life, Death and the Monster" (7:33)

I'll close off with this video of an implementation of Conway's Game of Life - in Conway's Game of Life: