PIMS Undergraduate Event - Twist and Turn: the Story of the Game of Hex
SPEAKER: Ryan Hayward, University of Alberta
DATE: Friday, April 6, 2018
ROOM: DSB C116
TIME: 3:00 pm lecture (pre-lecture refreshments in DTB A514 @ 2:30 pm)
TITLE:
Twist and Turn: the Story of the Game of Hex
ABSTRACT:
In 1942, the Danish engineer, poet, and designer Piet Hein invented a new board game and --- with a little help from his friends --- introduced it to readers of the Danish newspaper Politiken. The game became popular: within a year, 50,000 game pads sold.
In 1949 John Nash introduced the game to the Princeton math community, and in 1957 Martin Gardner passed it on to readers of Scientific American.
In this talk for a general audience, I will sketch some big moments in Hex history, ending with an outline of the ideas that make a nearly-superhuman computer Hex program tick.