By Naomi Donabedian
Every so often Brian Dubé sifts through his massive records and fishes out some ephemera. For the digital age kiddies, that means something printed on paper. You can hear the upbeat enthusiasm in his voice and know you’re gonna get to see something rare, “Hey you want to see something cool.” How about Discover Magazine, 1982 with an article about Ronald Graham, head of Mathematical Studies Center at Bell Labs and ex- IJA president. Brian doesn’t just have the article, he has the magazine sent to him by Ronald Graham in a Bell Labs envelop.
The article is smart, venerating juggling and its links to the math world. Graham is painted as playful creative genius relying on juggling, acrobatics, and cubing to discover answers while solving “hard” math problems in a high functioning world class lab.
So does juggling make you smarter or do really smart people like to juggle?