Science writer Amir Aczel, "who took readers on a mathematical mystery tour" in Fermat's Last Theorem "and went on to write more than a dozen popular books on intriguing scientific ideas and discoveries," died November 26, the New York Times reported. He was 65. Aczel "parlayed the success of Fermat's Last Theorem into books on the discovery of the compass, the probability of life on other planets, the discovery of the Higgs boson (sometimes referred to as the God particle) and the history of the numeral zero," the Times wrote. His most recent book was Finding Zero: A Mathematician's Odyssey to Uncover the Origins of Numbers.
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Poet, actor, spoken-word artist and activist John Trudell, "who spoke for American Indian protesters during the 1969 Alcatraz Island occupation and later headed the American Indian Movement," died Tuesday, the Associated Press (via US News & World Report) reported. He was 69. Trudell "was a prolific poet, combining spoken words and music on more than a dozen albums." His latest, Wazi’s Dream, was released this year. The New York Times noted that he "published several volumes of poetry, including Stickman and Lines From a Mined Mind, often writing in protest of corporate power and government oppression."
