ATM are sorry to announce the sudden and sad death of Richard Phillips. Richard was one of the key members of the team that produced ATM's classic mathematical game 'L' - a Mathemagical Adventure in the 1980's.
Alan Wigley was also part of that team and remembers Richard below:
I was very saddened to hear of Richard’s death. Behind his mild unassuming manner was such a creative person, his background as a psychologist bringing something fresh and inspiring to the maths education scene!
I can remember in the early days of computers in schools, working with Richard on ideas for graph-plotting programs, which of course are now commonplace (and I hope being used in all secondary maths classrooms!). At the Shell Centre we were looking at an adventure game called ‘A’, on the old Research Machines 380Z computer, which involved finding your way through a maze of passageways. Sometime later I recall driving with Richard from Nottingham to an ATM Micros group meeting at Knuston Hall. He talked to me about his idea for a mathematical adventure game. I was intrigued as to how this might work and he explained one or two of his ideas for problems, including the Telephone problem, I recall. The idea seized the imagination of the group and we were all able to contribute suggestions for problems. However, the imaginative storyline (partly inspired by Alice in Wonderland) and programming were, if my memory serves me, all Richard’s. Computer graphics have, of course, advanced hugely since then, but it was impressive how the simple, mostly text-based presentation stimulated the imagination of children and adults alike.
Richard had a strong sense of how to develop classroom materials to engage pupils in exploratory and investigative approaches to mathematical problem solving, for which we can all feel grateful.
Richards funeral will take place at Worcester Crematorium on Friday 23rd October at 12:15. No flowers please. Donations to Oxfam. For more details go to www.richardphillips.org.uk