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Magic, Mathematics and MasonryTweetSpeaker: Brent Morris Start: Wednesday, February 22, 2006, 07:00PM End: Wednesday, February 22, 2006, 09:00PM Location: Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th floor Abstract:
The Interdisciplinary Studies Council of Majors presents the annual Slobodan B. Petrovich Lecture on Feb. 22 from 7-9 p.m. Brent Morris, freemasonry historian, will discuss "Magic, Mathematics and Masonry. The event will be held in the Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th floor. For more information, contact Diana Thayer at thayer@umbc.edu.
Dr. Morris, who earned his doctorate and master's in math from Duke
University, and a master's in computer science from Johns Hopkins
University, is believed to have the only doctorate in the world in
card shuffling -- his dissertation is titled "Permutations by Cutting
and Shuffling: A Generalization to Q Dimensions."
He holds two U.S. patents on computers designed with shuffles, and has
been a mathematician with the U.S. government since 1975. He currently
serves as executive of the Cryptologic Mathematician Program at the
National Security Agency. He served as U.S. representative to the
International Standards Organization (ISO) in the area of computer
security.
He has taught mathematics, computer science, and cryptanalysis at Duke
University, Johns Hopkins University, and the National Cryptologic
School. His interests include computer interconnection networks, the
mathematics of card shuffling, and recreational mathematics. Morris,
the author of discuss "Magic Tricks, Card Shuffling and Dynamic
Computer Memories," a book that explores the interconnections between
these seemingly unrelated topics, became interested in the "perfect
shuffle" in high school and has pursued its mathematics for more than
30 years. He worked his way through college and graduate school as a
magician and has been invited to speak at the Smithsonian Institution,
the Board of Mathematical Sciences of the National Research Council,
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, AT&T Bell Labs, NEC Research
Institute and the National War College. He has also presented his work
at the Joint Mathematics Meetings of the MAA/AMS and more than 100
colleges and universities.
Web Site: http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/brentmorrisfr.html , |