Born
1937,
Underwood Dudley is a mathematician who has written a number of research works and textbooks, but is best known for his popular writing. Most notable are several books describing
crank mathematics - people who think they have
squared the circle or done other impossible things. This sort of work is thrown away by most mathematicians, but Dudley saved and cherished it, calling it the folklore of mathematics.
These books, which alternate between enjoyment of and exasperation with such cranks, include "The Trisectors," "Mathematical Cranks" and "Numerology."
They helped him win the Trevor Evans Award[?] for expository writing from the Mathematical Association of America in 1996.