| John Allen Paulos | |
| Birth Date: | 4 July 1945 |
| Website: | math.temple.edu/~paulos |
| Nationality: | American |
| Field: | Mathematics |
| Work Institutions: | Temple University |
| Alma Mater: | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Jon Barwise |
| Thesis Title: | Truth Adequancy and Truth Maximality for Logics |
| Known For: | Author of books and articles on a variety of topics, especially the combatting of innumeracy |
| Prizes: | In 2003 AAAS Award, in 2013 JPBM Award |
John Allen Paulos (born July 4, 1945) is an American professor of mathematics at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has gained fame as a writer and speaker on mathematics and the importance of mathematical literacy. Paulos writes about many subjects, especially of the dangers of mathematical innumeracy; that is, the layperson's misconceptions about numbers, probability, and logic.[1]
Paulos was born in Denver, Colorado and grew up in Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he attended high school. After his Bachelor of Mathematics at University of Wisconsin (1967) and his Master of Science at University of Washington (1968), he received his PhD in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1974). In an interview he described himself as lifelong skeptic.[2] He volunteered for the Peace Corps in the seventies.[3]
His academic work is mainly in mathematical logic and probability theory.
His book Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences (1988) was a bestseller and A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995) extended the critique. In his books Paulos discusses innumeracy with quirky anecdotes, scenarios and facts, encouraging readers in the end to look at their world in a more quantitative way.
He has also written on other subjects often "combining disparate disciplines", such as the mathematical and philosophical basis of humor in Mathematics and Humor and I Think, Therefore I Laugh, the stock market in A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market, quantitative aspects of narrative in Once Upon a Number, the arguments for God in Irreligion, and most recently "bringing mathematics to bear on...biography" in A Numerate Life.[4]
Paulos also wrote a mathematics-tinged column for the UK newspaper The Guardian and is a Committee for Skeptical Inquiry fellow.[5]
Paulos has appeared frequently on radio and television, including a four-part BBC adaptation of A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper and appearances on the Lehrer News Hour, 20/20, Larry King, and David Letterman.[6]
In 2001 Paulos taught a course on quantitative literacy for journalists at the Columbia University School of Journalism. The course stimulated further programs at Columbia and elsewhere in precision and data-driven journalism.
His long-running "ABCNews.com" monthly column Who's Counting[7] deals with mathematical aspects of stories in the news. All the columns over a 10- year period are archived here.[7]
He is married, father of two, grandfather of four.
Paulos tweets frequently at @JohnAllenPaulos.[8]
Paulos received the 2013 JPBM (Joint Policy Board for Mathematics) Award for Communicating Mathematics on a Sustained Basis to Large Audiences.[9]
Paulos received the 2003 AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Award for Promoting the Public Understanding of Science and Technology.[10]
In 2002 he received the University Creativity Award at Temple University.[11]
Paulos' article "Counting on Dyscalculia," which appeared in Discover Magazine in 1994, won a Folio Award that year.[12]