John Derbyshire American mathematician and essayist Date of Birth: 03.06.1946 Country: USA

Biography of John Derbyshire

John Derbyshire is an American mathematician and writer. He is known for his columns in the 'National Review' and 'New English Review', where he writes about a wide range of topics including China, immigration, history, mathematics, and even racing.

Derbyshire attended University College London, where he studied mathematics. After finishing school, he initially worked as a programmer on Wall Street before transitioning to literature. Although he had some ideological disagreements with his colleagues at the 'National Review', Derbyshire supported Michael Schiavo in the Terri Schiavo case and criticized the tax cuts introduced by President George W. Bush, which he deemed as ridiculous and burdening future generations with federal debt. Derbyshire had a general dislike for Bush, primarily due to what he perceived as excessive religious conviction combined with the manners of a spoiled rich child.

While Derbyshire initially supported the introduction of American troops in Iraq, he later became a staunch advocate for their withdrawal. He had particularly heated debates with his colleagues on the topics of the Schiavo case and immigration, often clashing with blogger John Podhoretz over the concept of "ethnic balance."

Derbyshire also delved into the subject of American education, expressing his belief that it is filled with lies, meaningless expenditures, corruption, insane theories, and careerist mutual admiration. In 1996, he published the novella 'Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream', which was hailed as a Notable Book of the Year by the 'New York Times'. In 2003, he released the book 'Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics', which explored Riemann's hypothesis and other complex mathematical concepts in an engaging and informative manner. Derbyshire also included biographical information about notable mathematicians such as Euler, Gauss, Dirichlet, Lobachevsky, Chebyshev, Hadamard, and Riemann.

In 2006, Derbyshire published another mathematical book titled 'Unknown Quantity: A Real And Imaginary History of Algebra'. His work 'We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism' was released in 2009, tackling various political issues along with education.

Outside of his writing career, Derbyshire had a small, uncredited role in the 1972 film 'Way of the Dragon' starring Bruce Lee. He humorously mentioned that the casting agents didn't put much effort into their selection process, choosing unemployed individuals from nearby slums with a maximum criminal appearance.

Derbyshire is married and has two children. He currently resides in Huntington, New York. In July 2011, Derbyshire mentioned on his blog that his 16-year-old son, Danny, had decided to enlist in the military in 2013. Interestingly, Derbyshire's older brother served in the British army for 22 years.