Martin Gardner was a popular mathematics writer with interests in scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literature. He has inspired many, including me, to study Math further.
This genius did not have a formal degree in Math but was a journalist who popularized Math among different sections of the society through "recreational math". He rightly argued that, if visual arts do not need to solve any practical problem, math on its own does not need to either. Mathematicians are innovators and artists.