John Boardman (physicist)
{{short description|American physicist}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = John Boardman
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|birth_name = Jack Melton Boardman
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1932|9|8}}
|birth_place = Turlock, California, U.S.
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|alma_mater = University of Chicago
Iowa State University
Syracuse University
|thesis_title = Quantization of the general theory of relativity.
|thesis_url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/849992164
|thesis_year = 1962
|doctoral_advisor = Peter Bergmann{{MathGenealogy|id=52974|name=Peter Gabriel Bergmann}}
|known_for = science fiction, board games
|spouse = {{marriage|Perdita Lilly Nelson Girsdansky||November 26, 2017|end=died}}
|children = 2
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Jack Melton "John" Boardman (born September 8, 1932) is an American physicist. He is a former professor of physics at Brooklyn College; a noted science fiction fan, author and fanzine publisher; and a gaming authority.
Academic career
Boardman earned his BA at the University of Chicago in 1952 and his MS from Iowa State University in 1956. He then attended Florida State University to begin his doctoral studies. However, he was expelled in 1957 due to his involvement with the Inter-Civic Council and more specifically for inviting three black Florida A&M exchange students to a Christmas party.[http://www.tallahassee.com/legacy/special/boycott/profiles.html "The Ride to Equality: Fifty years after the Tallahassee bus boycott"], Tallahassee Democrat May 21, 2006 (special section)[http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/35174 Photograph: "Civil rights activists - Tallahassee, Florida" (195?) Image #RC12794 in series: "Reference collection", at Florida Memory, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Division of Library and Information Services], Florida Department of State
He ultimately received his PhD in physics at Syracuse University in 1962; his doctoral thesis was titled Quantization of the General Theory of Relativity.[http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=4679622 Bibliographic Citation: "QUANTIZATION OF THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY" Energy Citations Database accessed March 23 2011] His publications include "Spherical Gravitational Waves" (a collaboration with Peter Bergmann, former research assistant to Albert Einstein),[https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.115.1318 Boardman, John and Bergmann, Peter G. "Spherical Gravitational Waves" Physical Review Volume 115, Issue 5 (September 1959); pp. 1318–1324] "Contributions to the Quantization Problem in General Relativity",[http://jmp.aip.org/resource/1/jmapaq/v6/i11/p1696_s1?isAuthorized=no Boardman, John. "Contributions to the Quantization Problem in General Relativity" Journal of Mathematical Physics Vol. 6, Issue 11 (1965), pp. 1696 et seq.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320062155/http://jmp.aip.org/resource/1/jmapaq/v6/i11/p1696_s1?isAuthorized=no |date=2012-03-20 }} and "The Normal Modes Of A Hanging Oscillator Of Order N".[http://www.fq.math.ca/17-1.html Boardman, John. ""The Normal Modes Of A Hanging Oscillator Of Order N" Fibonacci Quarterly Vol. 17, Issue 1 (February 1979); pp. 37-39]
Boardman and gaming
Boardman was involved in early play-by-mail (PBM) for the Diplomacy game, and for a small fee he would send copies of each player's turns to every other player involved in a game.{{Cite book|author=Shannon Appelcline|title=Designers & Dragons|publisher=Mongoose Publishing|year=2011| isbn= 978-1-907702-58-7|pages=34}} He is one of the most noted figures in the game of Diplomacy, having established the original play-by-mail setup in 1961, and also the system of numbering each game for statistical purposes. These numbers, known as Boardman Numbers, include the year and a letter indicating sequence.{{cite web | last = Reynolds | first = Harold | title = B Entries | work = Diplomacy A-Z, Version 6.0 | date = 2008-12-02 | url = http://www.badpets.net/Diplomacy/AtoZ/B.html | accessdate = 2008-12-22}} For instance, 2004A was the first game started in 2004.{{cite web|url=http://www.diplomatic-pouch.org/Zine/S1997M/Fitzpatrick/Bnumbers.html|title=A Short History of the Boardman Numbers|last=Walker|first=Rod|website=Diplomatic Pouch|date=1997|orig-year=1975-03-13|access-date=2017-07-03}}{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/download/Liasons_Dangereuses_54-1975-03-12/Liasons_Dangereuses_54-1975-03-12.pdf|title=A Short History of the Boardman Numbers |last=Walker |first=Rod |magazine=Liaisons Dangereuses |date=1975-03-13 |orig-year=1972|access-date=2017-07-03}}{{cite web|url=http://www.diplomatic-pouch.org/Zine/S1997M/Fitzpatrick/Numbers.html|title=Boardman and Miller Numbers|website=Diplomatic Pouch|date=1997|access-date=2017-07-03}}
Boardman started the first successful postal Diplomacy zine, Graustark, in 1963 as an offshoot from his science fiction fanzine Knowable. Soon Graustark grew from just a gameturn-report newsletter to a hobby activity similar to science fiction fanzines.Meinel, Jim. Encyclopedia of Postal Diplomacy Zines. Great White North Productions, Alaska, USA, 1992. Boardman continued to produce Graustark for almost 50 years, publishing issue 793 in June 2013.{{cite web |url=http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/graustark.htm |title=Graustark Zine Archive |date=2014-06-02 |access-date=2017-07-03 |website=The Whining Kent Pigs |last=Kent |first=Douglas |archive-date=2016-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805152349/http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/graustark.htm |url-status=dead }}
Science fiction
Boardman has long been an active member of science fiction fandom, famed for his strong political opinions; and has been the subject of at least two filksongs: "To John Boardman in Brooklyn"[http://www.massfilc.org/filkindex/nesfa.xml Index to the NESFA Hymnal] and "All Hail to the Fan John B." In addition to Knowable, his science fiction fanzines have included Dagon and Anakreon. He has also written at least two published fantasy stories, "Colon the Conqueror" (a Conan the Barbarian parody), published in the May 1958 issue of Fantastic Universe; and "The Testament of Snefru", published in the 1980 anthology The Spell of Conan (L. Sprague de Camp, ed.).
= "The Asteroid Light" =
Boardman's 1961 filksong, "The Asteroid Light" (to the tune of the sea chanty "Eddystone Light") has been reprinted repeatedly, in venues ranging from science fiction anthologies (the 1972 anthology Futures Conditional) to Sing Out magazine (V. 9, #1, p. 24) to collections of protest music (Glazer, Tom. Songs of Peace, Freedom and Protest. New York: David McKay, 1970). It has also frequently been discussed in papers on filk music.[http://cfmb.icaap.org/content/23.2/BV23-2part2.pdf Fowke, Edith. "Filksongs as Modern Folk Songs". Canadian Folklore Canadien (Vol. 7; 1985)]Titus, A. Costandina & Simich, Jerry L. "From 'atomic bomb baby' to 'nuclear funeral': Atomic music comes of age, 1945-1990" Popular Music and Society, Vol. 14, #4 (Winter 1990), pp. 11-37Simpson, Claude M., Jr. "Review: [untitled]" Western Folklore, Vol. 21, #4 (Oct., 1962), pp. 290-291
He also wrote a regular column, "Science for Science Fiction", for the first twelve issues of Ares magazine.
Personal life
After having been a resident of the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, for almost half a century (his house was used as a set in Spike Lee's Malcolm X), Boardman now lives in Frederick, Maryland. Boardman's wife, Perdita Lilly Nelson Girsdansky, who was previously married to Ray Nelson, died on November 26, 2017, after a long battle with dementia.
References
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Category:21st-century American physicists
Category:Brooklyn College faculty
Category:Iowa State University alumni
Category:People from Flatbush, Brooklyn
Category:Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Category:University of Chicago alumni