Irving Joshua Matrix — born (Japan, 1908) as Irving Joshua Bush and commonly known as Dr. (I. J.) Matrix — was a fictitious polymath scientist, scholar, and entrepreneur who made extraordinary contributions to perpetual motion engineering, Biblical cryptography and numerology, pyramid power, pentagonal meditation, extra-sensory perception, psychic metallurgy, and a number of other topics. He was an accomplished prestidigitator and an intuitive mathematician, two qualities which he put to good use in most of his enterprises. Being a fictitious character he could perform tasks that were logically impossible; for example, he could "clap one hand in the air" when summoning a waiter or a minion.
Dr. Matrix was the satirical creation of popular mathematics columnist Martin Gardner (1914-2010), who reported some of his doings in his "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American beginning in 1959. The intent was partly to provide colorful context to mathematical puzzles and curiosities, partly as a spoof of various pseudo-scientific theories, and always to provide a humorous introduction to the serious topic at hand.
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Famous quotes containing the words irving, joshua and/or matrix:
“The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion.”
—Washington Irving (1783–1859)
“Joshua fit de battle ob Jerico, Jerico, Jerico,
Joshua fit de battle ob Jerico,
An’ de walls come tumblin’ down.”
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