Arthur T. Benjamin

At 63 years old, Arthur T. Benjamin physical status not available right now. We will update Arthur T. Benjamin's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Benjamin held several mathematics positions while attending university, including stints with the National Bureau of Standards, the National Security Agency, and the Institute for Defense Analyses. Upon receipt of his PhD he was hired as an assistant professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College. He is currently a full professor at Harvey Mudd and was chair of the mathematics department from 2002 to 2004. He has published over 90 academic papers and five books. He has also filmed several sets of lectures on mathematical topics for The Great Courses series from The Teaching Company, including a course on Discrete Mathematics, Mental Math, and The Mathematics of Games and Puzzles: From Cards to Sudoku. He served as co-editor of Math Horizons magazine for five years.

Benjamin has long had an interest in magic. While in college he honed his skills as a magician and attended magic conferences. At one of these conferences he met well-known magician and skeptic James Randi, who greatly influenced Benjamin's decision to perform Mathemagics shows for live audiences. Randi invited him to perform his mathematical tricks on a television program called Exploring Psychic Powers Live, co-hosted by Uri Geller. Randi also encouraged Benjamin to become involved in the growing skeptical movement. He attended early meetings of the Southern California Skeptics in the 1990s, which later evolved into the Skeptics Society. It was at these meetings that he met Skeptics Society President Michael Shermer, who would later become a co-author on three of Benjamin's books.

Benjamin regularly performs his Mathemagics program for live audiences at schools, colleges, conferences, and even at The Magic Castle in Hollywood, California. These shows feature Benjamin performing mathematical feats like rapidly squaring numbers with up to five digits and correctly identifying the day of the week on which audience members were born based on their birth dates.

He was also featured in Mathemagics, a multimedia disc released for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1994, which consists largely of short demonstrations and lessons by Benjamin in mental math and Mathemagics.

Source

• American Backgammon Tour Player of the Year, 1997
• Fellow of the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications, 2000
• Haimo Distinguished Teaching Award, Mathematical Association of America, 2000
• CHOICE Award, Outstanding Academic Title, for Proofs that Really Count: The Art of Combinatorial Proof, American Library Association, 2004
• Designated "America's Best Math Whiz" by Reader's Digest, May 2005
• Beckenbach Book Prize, for Proofs that Really Count, Mathematical Association of America, 2006
• George Pólya Lecturer, Mathematical Association of America, 2006-2008
• Selected by The Princeton Review as one of The Best 300 Professors, 2012