Nobuyuki Yoshigahara ( ''Yoshigahara Nobuyuki'', commonly known as "Nob"; May 27, 1936 – June 19, 2004) was perhaps

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

's most celebrated inventor, collector, solver, and communicator of

puzzles A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...

. Nob graduated from the

Tokyo Institute of Technology is a national research university located in Greater Tokyo Area, Japan. Tokyo Tech is the largest institution for higher education in Japan dedicated to science and technology, one of first five Designated National University and selected as ...

in applied chemistry. After becoming disenchanted with his career in high-polymer engineering, Nob turned to high school teaching as an educator of chemistry and mathematics. As a puzzle columnist, Nob was an active contributor to many journals and had monthly columns in various popular magazines, including ''Quark''. He penned over 80 books on puzzles. Perhaps best known as a puzzle inventor, he commercially licensed his designs, such as the ''Rush Hour'' puzzle game, to companies including Binary Arts (now known as

ThinkFun ThinkFun, formerly known as Binary Arts, is a toy and board game company founded in 1985 by Bill Ritchie and Andrea Barthello. The two started the company from the basement of their home in Virginia, with a product base that initially consisted of ...

Ishi Press Samuel Howard Sloan (born September 7, 1944) is an American perennial candidate and former broker-dealer. In 1978, he won a case ''pro se'' before the United States Supreme Court, becoming the last non-lawyer to argue a case in front of the cour ...

, and

Hanayama Hanayama is a Japanese toy company founded in 1933. They are best known for their metal disassembly puzzles " HUZZLE" series (also known as "CAST PUZZLE"), which include reproductions of older designs, and new puzzles by other inventors such as ...

. He was also an avid computer programmer who used computers to help solve

mathematical puzzle Mathematical puzzles make up an integral part of recreational mathematics. They have specific rules, but they do not usually involve competition between two or more players. Instead, to solve such a puzzle, the solver must find a solution that sati ...

s. Nob was an active participant in the International Puzzle Party, traveling the world to attend the annual event. In 2005, the puzzle design competition of the International Puzzle Parties was renamed the Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition. In 2003, the Association of Game & Puzzle Collectors awarded Nob with the

Sam Loyd Award Samuel Loyd (January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911), was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematics, recreational mathematician. Loyd was born in Philadelphia but raised in New York City. As a chess com ...

,Association Awards: Sam Loyd Award
Association for Games & Puzzles International given to individuals who have made a significant contribution to the world of

mechanical puzzles A mechanical puzzle is a puzzle presented as a set of mechanically interlinked pieces in which the solution is to manipulate the whole object or parts of it. While puzzles of this type have been in use by humanity as early as the 3rd century BC ...

References

External links

Ed Pegg Jr. Nob Yoshigahara, June 28, 2004.
* ttp://www.agpc.org Association of Game & Puzzle Collectorsbr>Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition
*

Barry Arthur Cipra Barry Arthur Cipra, an American mathematician and freelance writer, regularly contributes to ''Science'' magazine and ''SIAM New''s, a monthly publication of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Along with Dana Mackenzie and Paul Z ...

, Erik D. Demaine, Marin L. Demaine, and Tom Rodgers. Tribute to a Mathemagician. — A K Peters, 2005. — 262 с. — . {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshigahara, Nobuyuki 1936 births 2004 deaths Puzzle designers Mathematics popularizers Recreational mathematicians Tokyo Institute of Technology alumni

See also

References

External links