George Robertson, whose 100th birthday aligns with the kickoff of the Alumni Association's centenary year, embodies the lively mind and love of learning that define U of A alumni.
George Robertson, '39 BSc, has always loved to play with numbers.
So much so that in 2011, at the age of 97, he released a gaming app for Apple mobile devices called CheX Challenger. Imagine a fusion of Sudoku, chess and tick-tack-toe and you have CheX Challenger. The object of the game, designed for two players who alternate entering the numbers 1 through 5 into a five-by-five grid, is to achieve the highest score by completing rows and lines without repeating numbers. It's simple math and scoring, Robertson says, but requires complex strategies and decision-making. "It makes you think."
Developing a smartphone app may seem surprising for someone his age, but Robertson has been tinkering with complex numerical problems and technology for most of his life.
As a math and physics major at the U of A in the late 1930s, he recalls his first experiences with computerized arithmetic on an early hand-held calculator, which used a stylus to add, subtract, multiply and divide with numbered and notched slides. Throughout his 55-year career in meteorology, researching the effects of weather patterns on regional and global food production, Robertson came to rely more heavily on electronic devices. Eventually, he would use computer programs to work out how the amount of rainfall, humidity, sunshine and temperature affected the growth and yield of crops. "So I soon learned how to program a computer by taking courses while I was working as a meteorologist," he says.
Since retiring in the 1970s, his love of learning hasn't waned. He remains a member of several scientific societies, including the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, the American Meteorological Society and the Royal Meteorological Society. "I still get periodicals from all of them," says Robertson. "So that's one way I keep up with my education and knowledge of what's going on in the scientific world." He also did grid-based numerical puzzles such as KenKen and Sudoku to keep his mind sharp but found he wasn't sufficiently challenged by their pre-numbered and solitary-play format.
He decided he could do better.
So in 2009, he and his son, Glenn, designed an early version of CheX Challenger - or digital checkers, as he then called it - and played some 80 games back and forth by email. Later, Robertson used QBasic coding to create a version for his home computer, complete with an internally programmed opponent he named Robby the Robot. The desktop computer program soon evolved, in co-operation with Robertson's nephew Laurie Davis, '76 BSc(ElecEng), '78 MSc, into the CheX Challenger app for iPad and iPhone. Since its release, the free version of the app has been downloaded nearly 12,000 times. It's now used so widely, Robertson says, "You can play against an opponent using the same screen, or an opponent overseas in Australia, or with a neighbour across the street."
Robertson, who celebrates his 100th birthday on Dec. 20, seems to have found a winning formula for keeping his mind sharp. "It's good to challenge the mind. [Playing games] uses those sleepy neurons that you don't normally use; it gives the brain and the mind lots of opportunity to work and get exercise."
So much so that in 2011, at the age of 97, he released a gaming app for Apple mobile devices called CheX Challenger. Imagine a fusion of Sudoku, chess and tick-tack-toe and you have CheX Challenger. The object of the game, designed for two players who alternate entering the numbers 1 through 5 into a five-by-five grid, is to achieve the highest score by completing rows and lines without repeating numbers. It's simple math and scoring, Robertson says, but requires complex strategies and decision-making. "It makes you think."
Developing a smartphone app may seem surprising for someone his age, but Robertson has been tinkering with complex numerical problems and technology for most of his life.
As a math and physics major at the U of A in the late 1930s, he recalls his first experiences with computerized arithmetic on an early hand-held calculator, which used a stylus to add, subtract, multiply and divide with numbered and notched slides. Throughout his 55-year career in meteorology, researching the effects of weather patterns on regional and global food production, Robertson came to rely more heavily on electronic devices. Eventually, he would use computer programs to work out how the amount of rainfall, humidity, sunshine and temperature affected the growth and yield of crops. "So I soon learned how to program a computer by taking courses while I was working as a meteorologist," he says.
Since retiring in the 1970s, his love of learning hasn't waned. He remains a member of several scientific societies, including the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, the American Meteorological Society and the Royal Meteorological Society. "I still get periodicals from all of them," says Robertson. "So that's one way I keep up with my education and knowledge of what's going on in the scientific world." He also did grid-based numerical puzzles such as KenKen and Sudoku to keep his mind sharp but found he wasn't sufficiently challenged by their pre-numbered and solitary-play format.
He decided he could do better.
So in 2009, he and his son, Glenn, designed an early version of CheX Challenger - or digital checkers, as he then called it - and played some 80 games back and forth by email. Later, Robertson used QBasic coding to create a version for his home computer, complete with an internally programmed opponent he named Robby the Robot. The desktop computer program soon evolved, in co-operation with Robertson's nephew Laurie Davis, '76 BSc(ElecEng), '78 MSc, into the CheX Challenger app for iPad and iPhone. Since its release, the free version of the app has been downloaded nearly 12,000 times. It's now used so widely, Robertson says, "You can play against an opponent using the same screen, or an opponent overseas in Australia, or with a neighbour across the street."
Robertson, who celebrates his 100th birthday on Dec. 20, seems to have found a winning formula for keeping his mind sharp. "It's good to challenge the mind. [Playing games] uses those sleepy neurons that you don't normally use; it gives the brain and the mind lots of opportunity to work and get exercise."
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