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Gardner, Martin

Mathematics is not only real, but it is the only reality. [The] entire universe is made of matter, obviously. And matter is made of particles. It's made of electrons and neutrons and protons. So the entire universe is made out of particles. Now what are the particles made out of? They're not made out of anything. The only thing you can say about the reality of an electron is to cite its mathematical properties. So there's a sense in which matter has completely dissolved and what is left is just a mathematical structure.
Citation: 
Gardner on Gardner: JPBM Communications Award Presentation. Focus: The Newsletter of the Mathematical Association of America, v. 14, no. 6, December 1994.
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