{{Short description|American writer}}
{{about|the American writer and television presenter|other uses of the name|Paul Hoffman (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox writer|image=File:Paul_Hoffman_presenting_at_Cusp_Conference_2009.jpg|birth_date=March 30, 1956|education =[[Harvard University]]|notable_works=''[[The Man Who Loved Only Numbers]]''|awards=[[Royal Society Prizes for Science Books|Royal Society Science Books Prize]]}}

'''Paul Hoffman''' (born March 30, 1956)<ref name="mediabistro">{{cite web|url=http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/details.asp?aID=9816& |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603052406/http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/details.asp?aID=9816& |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 3, 2013 |title=SO WHAT DO YOU DO, PAUL HOFFMAN, AUTHOR, ASME-WINNING WRITER |publisher=Mediabistro |date=August 22, 2007 |accessdate=January 4, 2015 }}</ref> is the president and CEO of the [[Liberty Science Center]] in [[Jersey City]], New Jersey.<ref>{{cite web|title=Paul Hoffman Named President and CEO|url=http://ceo.lsc.org/|work=Liberty Science Center Web site|publisher=Liberty Science Center|accessdate=2011-10-19|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008195253/http://ceo.lsc.org/|archivedate=2011-10-08}}</ref> He is also a prominent author, science educator, food entrepreneur, storyteller, and host of the [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] television series ''[[Great Minds of Science]].'' He won the [[Royal Society Science Book Prize]] for ''[[The Man Who Loved Only Numbers]]'', a biography of [[Paul Erdős]].

== Career ==
Hoffman holds a B.A. degree [[summa cum laude]] from [[Harvard]], is the winner of the first [[National Magazine Award]] for Feature Writing and is a member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]. ''[[Chicago (magazine)|Chicago]]'' magazine once called him "the smartest man in the world," but Hoffman claims the editors must have caught him on a particularly good day. ''[[The New York Times]]'' called him "the mayor of strange places"<ref>{{cite news| last=Leland| first=John|  title=Paul Hoffman, Mayor of Strange Places and Explorer of the City| date=November 30, 2012| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/nyregion/paul-hoffman-mayor-of-strange-places-and-explorer-of-the-city.html| work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> because of his penchant for checking in at out-of-the-way places on [[Foursquare City Guide|Foursquare]]. He won a National Magazine Award for his article of [[Paul Erdős]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hoffman |first1=Paul| date=November 1987 |title=The Man Who Loves Only Numbers |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1987/11/the-man-who-loves-only-numbers/670104/ |work=[[The Atlantic]]  |pages=60–74 |access-date=14 January 2025}}</ref> This grew into ''[[The Man Who Loved Only Numbers]]'', which won [[Royal Society Prizes for Science Books|Royal Society Science Books Prize]].

Hoffman was president and editor in chief of ''[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]''. He served as president and publisher of ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' before returning full-time to writing and consulting work. He lives in [[Brooklyn]] and [[Woodstock, New York]]. He has appeared on ''[[CBS This Morning]]'' and ''The NewsHour with [[Jim Lehrer]]'' as a correspondent. He is a paradoxologist under the [[pseudonym]] '''Dr. Crypton'''. He designed the puzzle in the book ''[[Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse]]'' (1984). That year, he designed the treasure map in ''[[Romancing the Stone]]'', starring [[Michael Douglas]], [[Kathleen Turner]], and [[Danny DeVito]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/142799.Paul_Hoffman |title = Paul Hoffman (Author of The Man Who Loved Only Numbers)}}</ref>  Hoffman is a [[chess]] player rated around 1900 (or class-A level) who was the last man standing when world champion [[Magnus Carlsen]] played blindfold [[blitz chess]] against three challengers.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barron |first=James |date=2015-11-11 |title=An American Chess Master, Age 23, Awaits His Turn on a Bigger Stage |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/nyregion/an-american-chess-master-age-23-awaits-his-turn-on-a-bigger-stage.html |access-date=2023-01-06 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Hoffman was the editorial chairman of the video interview website [[Big Think]], where he personally interviewed [[Dick Cavett]], [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Annie Duke]], [[Arianna Huffington]], [[John Irving]], [[Penn Jillette]], [[Anatoly Karpov]], [[Garry Kasparov]] and [[Ed Koch]], among others. He joined the [[Liberty Science Center]], [[Jersey City]], in October 2011.

Hoffman was the creative director of the ''Beyond [[Rubik's Cube]]'' exhibition, which appeared at venues around the world starting with the LSC, the [[Great Lakes Science Center]] in [[Cleveland]], and [[Telus World of Science (Edmonton)|Telus World of Science]] in Edmonton, Canada.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://news.yahoo.com/cubism-rubik-helps-toys-anniversary-exhibit-212056694.html | location=New York | agency=Associated Press | title=Cubism? Rubik helps with toy's anniversary exhibit | first=Ted | last=Shaffrey | date=2012-04-27}}</ref> Exhibition elements included a 35-foot-tall rooftop cube made of lights that people could manipulate with their cellphones, a $2.5 million cube made of diamonds, a giant cube displaying the inner workings of the puzzle, and cube-solving robots.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/science/rubiks-cube-enjoys-another-turn-in-the-spotlight.html | location=New York | work=[[The New York Times]] | title=Rubik's Cube Twists Back Into Limelight | first=Douglas | last=Quenqua | date=2012-08-06}}</ref> [[Google]] was LSC's creative partner in the creation of the 7,000-square-foot exhibition.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lsc.org/cube |title=Liberty Science Center |accessdate=2012-11-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620144921/http://lsc.org/cube/ |archivedate=2012-06-20 }}</ref>

Hoffman is spearheading the development of SciTech Scity, a 30-acre innovation campus in Jersey City.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.roi-nj.com/2021/10/22/tech/scitech-scity-game-changing-innovation-campus-to-break-ground-today/ | location=Jersey City | work=ROI-NJ | title=SciTech Scity, Game-Changing Innovation Campus, to Break Ground Today | first=Tom | last=Bergeron | date=2021-10-22}}</ref>

==Partial bibliography==
*{{cite book | author=Hoffman, Paul | title=King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game | publisher=[[Hachette Books|Hyperion Books]] | location=New York | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-4013-0097-5 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/kingsgambitsonfa00hoff }}
*{{cite book |author=Hoffman |title=Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight |publisher=[[Hachette Books|Hyperion Books]] |year=2003 |isbn=0-7868-8571-8 |url-access=registration |first=Paul |url=https://archive.org/details/wingsofmadnessal0000hoff}}
*{{cite book |author=Hoffman, Paul |title=The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth |title-link=The Man Who Loved Only Numbers |publisher=[[Hachette Books|Hyperion Books]] |location=New York |year=1998 |isbn=0-7868-8406-1}}
*{{cite book | author=Hoffman, Paul | title=Archimedes' Revenge: The Joys and Perils of Mathematics | publisher=Fawcett Colombine | location=New York | year=1988 | isbn=0-449-00089-3}}
*{{cite book | author=Crypton, Dr. | title=Timid Virgins Make Dull Company and Other Puzzles, Pitfalls, and Paradoxes | publisher=[[Penguin Books]] | location=New York | year=1985 | isbn=0-14-008043-0}}

==References==
<references />

==External links==
*[http://thephtest.com/paulhoffman_bio.html Paul Hoffman's bio]
*[http://paulhoffman.wordpress.com Paul Hoffman's blog]
*[https://archive.today/20121217133554/https://www.cuspconference.com/videos.php?videos.php%3Fsection=Paul-Hoffman%23videos.php?section=Paul-Hoffman Presenting at Cusp Conference 2009 (video)]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Paul}}
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:American male biographers]]
[[Category:American magazine editors]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Writers from Brooklyn]]
[[Category:People from Woodstock, New York]]
[[Category:20th-century American biographers]]
[[Category:Journalists from New York City]]
[[Category:20th-century American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Discover (magazine) people]]
[[Category:Historians from New York (state)]]
[[Category:21st-century American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American science writers]]