Bob Hearn has collected puzzles for over 40 years.

He has also designed several, including “Athena” (originally Subway Shuffle), and has produced puzzle challenge sets for several ThinkFun puzzles.

Bob has a Ph.D. from MIT; his book “Games, Puzzles, and Computation” (with Erik Demaine) is based on his thesis. He currently serves a program chair and board member for the Gathering 4 Gardner Foundation, a nonprofit that stimulates curiosity and the playful exchange of ideas and critical thinking in recreational math, magic, science, literature, and puzzles to preserve the legacy of writer and polymath Martin Gardner.

Outside of his puzzle pursuits, Bob is an accomplished ultramarathon runner, holding several U.S. age-group records.