The 7th Avenue Project: Thinking Persons' Radio (original) (raw)

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Mathemagician Persi Diaconis

When he was 14, Persi Diaconis ran away from home to become one of the world’s great magicians. Now he’s a world-class mathematician, and his two professions have more in common than you might think.

Persi and I had a very entertaining conversation about his careers in show biz and academe, covering topics such as:

• His friendships with other magicians, including Ricky Jay, Randi and Dai Vernon
• Some surprisingly profound mathematical card tricks
• Why science needs statisticians
• Duping others and being duped himself
• Why he’s so secretive

Click the play arrow above to hear the interview, or the download icon on the upper right to get your own mp3.

Persi’s well-known as an inventor of original tricks and sometimes helps other performers come up with new routines. For instance, he had a hand in this classic bit from Steve Martin: