Shuffling and Smooshing

There are so many fascinating individuals among mathematicians; sometimes fascinating in quirky, idiosyncratic, even neurotic ways; sometimes fascinating just as human individuals. Persi Diaconis falls into that latter category. A great teacher, great magician, great mathematician, with a somewhat storied background... a child-runaway who became a MacArthur Fellow. Erica Klarreich (who I just interviewed last Sunday) has posted a fine piece on him and his current work this week at Quanta:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/20150414-for-persi-diaconis-next-magic-trick/