most recent 30 from http://mathoverflow.net 2013-06-19T09:40:17Z http://mathoverflow.net/feeds/question/32479 http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/rdf http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures Gerald Edgar 2010-07-19T12:37:37Z 2011-03-13T13:55:49Z

<p>Either intentionally or unintentionally. Include location and sculptor, if known.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32487#32487 Willie Wong 2010-07-19T12:55:29Z 2010-07-19T12:55:29Z

<p>There are a few lying around Fine Hall in Princeton. One I think is "Five Disks: One Empty" by Alexander Calder. </p> <p>There's also Marc Pelletier's "Polydodecahedron" which was gifted to JH Conway. <a href="http://www.princetonoccasion.org/quarkpark/pages_statements/Conway.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.princetonoccasion.org/quarkpark/pages_statements/Conway.html</a></p> <p>There's also this big Obelisk in the common room (or did it get moved recently? I seem to remember its relocation when they redid the flooring). I had forgotten what it is actually called and what mathematics it is supposed to represent. Someone should edit this to add in the details. </p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32488#32488 Jon Bannon 2010-07-19T12:57:28Z 2010-07-19T12:57:28Z

<p>Check these out...they spring into shape by creating parallel folds on an initial paper shape:</p> <p><a href="http://erikdemaine.org/curved/" rel="nofollow">http://erikdemaine.org/curved/</a></p> <p>Erik Demaine is a mathematician (computational geometer) at MIT.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32489#32489 Kevin Walker 2010-07-19T13:05:32Z 2010-07-19T13:05:32Z

<p>I've always liked Robert Engman's sculptures</p> <p><a href="http://www.google.com/images?q=robert+engman+sculptor" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.com/images?q=robert+engman+sculptor</a></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32491#32491 Graham Leuschke 2010-07-19T13:28:55Z 2010-07-19T17:14:28Z

<p><a href="http://www.helasculpt.com/" rel="nofollow">Helaman Ferguson</a>. My department has <a href="http://www.helasculpt.com/gallery/umbilictorusNC27inch/" rel="nofollow">one of these</a> in the main office: </p> <p><img src="http://www.helasculpt.com/gallery/umbilictorusNC27inch/webimages/utncpedestal.jpg" alt="alt text"></p> <p><a href="http://www2.memenet.or.jp/~keizo/" rel="nofollow">Keizo Ushio</a>. He made <a href="http://www2.memenet.or.jp/~keizo/icm%20process.htm" rel="nofollow">this</a> during the 2006 ICM in Madrid: <img src="http://www2.memenet.or.jp/~keizo/060830017s.jpg" alt="alt text"></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32492#32492 Pietro Majer 2010-07-19T13:31:29Z 2010-07-19T13:31:29Z

<p>Miguel Berrocal. </p> <p><a href="http://www.berrocal.net/index_eng.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.berrocal.net/index_eng.html</a></p> <p>I also remember a beautiful article by Martin Gardner on the mathematical aspects of his sculpture.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32493#32493 Bruce Westbury 2010-07-19T13:34:14Z 2010-07-19T13:34:14Z

<p>George Green's windmill in Nottingham has a sculpture with a mill wheel with Green's Theorem carved into it.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32494#32494 John Mangual 2010-07-19T13:34:58Z 2010-07-19T13:34:58Z

<p>I think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity" rel="nofollow">tensegrity</a> sculptures are cool. <a href="http://www.kennethsnelson.net/icons/struc.htm" rel="nofollow">Kenneth Snelson</a> does a lot of these.</p> <p><img src="http://www.well.com/user/jleft/graphix/Tensegrity_Sphere.jpg" alt="alt text"></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32496#32496 Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson 2010-07-19T13:39:34Z 2010-07-19T13:39:34Z

<p>The Mathematical Research Institute in Oberwolfach have a sculpture on their grounds depicting Boy's surface:</p> <p><img src="http://www.mfo.de/general/boy/boy_small.jpg" alt="Boy's surface at MFO"></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32504#32504 Kevin O'Bryant 2010-07-19T14:45:30Z 2010-07-19T14:45:30Z

<p>Stan Wagon (with various collaborators) is known to make <a href="http://stanwagon.com/wagon/SnowSculptureRedirect/snowsculptureindex.html" rel="nofollow">snow sculptures that are mathematically pleasant</a>.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32507#32507 Koundinya Vajjha 2010-07-19T14:54:30Z 2010-07-19T23:38:19Z

<p>Cliff Stoll makes Klein bottles and sells them too. He's made the "worlds biggest klein bottle". You can see that <a href="http://www.kleinbottle.com/meter_tall_klein_bottle.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32509#32509 Vaughn Climenhaga 2010-07-19T15:26:59Z 2010-11-18T21:58:21Z

<p>The centrepiece of McAllister building, which houses the math department at Penn State, is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octacube_%28mathematics%29" rel="nofollow">Octacube</a>, designed by Adrian Ocneanu.</p> <p><img src="http://www.math.umd.edu/~climenhaga/pics/octacube.jpg" alt="alt text"></p> <p>There's a bit of a description of the mathematics behind the Octacube on the <a href="http://www.science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2005-news/math10-2005.htm" rel="nofollow">Penn State website</a>, but unfortunately, that's the most material that I can find online. There are all kinds of animations set up to display on a computer terminal in McAllister building, but they don't seem to be available online anymore.</p> <p>Very briefly, the mathematics of the sculpture is as follows: consider the four-dimensional regular convex polytope whose vertex set is the union of the vertex sets for the four-dimensional cube {(&plusmn;1,&plusmn;1,&plusmn;1,&plusmn;1)} and the four-dimensional octahedron {(&plusmn;2,0,0,0), (0,&plusmn;2,0,0), (0,0,&plusmn;2,0), (0,0,0,&plusmn;2)}. Consider the 1-skeleton of this polytope (vertices and edges), and project radially to S³ &sub; &#8477;⁴. Project the resulting "inflated polytope" stereographically to &#8477;³, and "fatten" the edges so that a cross-section of an edge is no longer just a point, but a Y-shape (see the corners of the sculpture). What you get is the sculpture shown.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32510#32510 anon 2010-07-19T16:30:59Z 2010-07-19T16:30:59Z

<p>I suspect that the Octacube is also the only mathematical sculpture (possibly the only mathematical topic?) to appear in the journal <em>Playboy</em> (March 2006).</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32525#32525 José Figueroa-O'Farrill 2010-07-19T19:20:38Z 2010-07-19T19:20:38Z

<p>Sugimoto Hiroshi has made some beautiful mathematical surfaces. They are described in his book <em>Conceptual Forms</em> and also in <a href="http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/conceptualforms.html" rel="nofollow">his web site</a>. I have seen some of them "live" in the <a href="http://www.naoshima-is.co.jp/" rel="nofollow">museum island of Naoshima</a>. </p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32556#32556 Gerald Edgar 2010-07-19T23:16:51Z 2010-07-19T23:16:51Z

<p>at Ohio State ...</p> <p><img src="http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/ross/images/numbers.jpg" alt="Garden of Constants"></p> <p>The Garden of Constants is a sculptural garden of large numerals that highlight the activities performed in nearby College of Engineering buildings. The installation, by Barbara Grygutis, includes a black walkway featuring 50 individual formulas cast in bronze and embedded in handmade pavers. The Garden of Constants is on the lawn of Dreese Laboratories.</p> <p><a href="http://www.osu.edu/download/images/bigpics/12.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.osu.edu/download/images/bigpics/12.jpg</a></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32557#32557 Matthew Kahle 2010-07-19T23:19:57Z 2010-07-19T23:19:57Z

<p>Adding to the list two of my favorite mathematical sculptors:</p> <p>George Hart:</p> <p><a href="http://www.georgehart.com/sculpture/sculpture.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.georgehart.com/sculpture/sculpture.html</a></p> <p>Bathsheba:</p> <p><a href="http://www.bathsheba.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.bathsheba.com/</a></p> <p>Finally, there are a lot of nice things at the new Geometry Playground in the Exploratorium, for anyone coming through the SF bay area:</p> <p><a href="http://www.exploratorium.edu/geometryplayground/" rel="nofollow">http://www.exploratorium.edu/geometryplayground/</a></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32582#32582 Daniel Mehkeri 2010-07-20T02:59:04Z 2010-07-20T02:59:04Z

<p>"Tucker's group of genus 2" by Duane Martinez and DeWitt Godfrey</p> <p><a href="http://www.colgate.edu/news/blog/archives/archivedisplay?nwID=5031" rel="nofollow">http://www.colgate.edu/news/blog/archives/archivedisplay?nwID=5031</a></p> <p><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tucker%27s_Genus_Two_Group.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tucker%27s_Genus_Two_Group.jpg</a></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32585#32585 Ken Fan 2010-07-20T03:28:11Z 2010-07-20T03:28:11Z

<p>Jane and John Kostick make many mathematically inspired sculptures some of which can be seen here: <a href="http://www.jjkostick.com/jjkostick/Welcome.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.jjkostick.com/jjkostick/Welcome.html</a></p> <p>For example, Jane made a coffee table whose base is a trefoil knot.</p> <p>For two more examples of sculptures that Jane built, please see the December 2008 issue of the Girls' Angle Bulletin, which can be downloaded from: <a href="http://www.girlsangle.org/page/bulletin.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.girlsangle.org/page/bulletin.html</a></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32596#32596 davidcary 2010-07-20T05:05:01Z 2010-07-20T05:05:01Z

<p>I like the <a href="http://www.bathsheba.com/math/" rel="nofollow">4 dimensional mathematical sculptures</a> by Bathsheba Grossman, such as the 24-cell:</p> <p><a href="http://www.bathsheba.com/math/24cell/24cell_new_th.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.bathsheba.com/math/24cell/24cell_new_th.jpg</a></p> <p>Are the cryptographic sculptures by Jim Sanborn -- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_Projector" rel="nofollow">Cyrillic Projector</a>, etc. -- close enough to a "mathematical sculpture"?</p> <p><a href="http://www.ncarts.org/images/afsb_art/workpix/14.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.ncarts.org/images/afsb_art/workpix/14.jpg</a></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32608#32608 Allen Knutson 2010-07-20T09:13:50Z 2010-07-20T09:13:50Z

<p><a href="http://www.giorgialessandro.it/recenti/index.htm" rel="nofollow">Alessandro Giorgi</a> has made a bunch of statues concerned with the mathematics of juggling, e.g.</p> <p><img src="http://www.giorgialessandro.it/recenti/images/5%20I%20NUMERI%20DEL%20GIOCOLIERE.JPG" alt="alt text"></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32613#32613 David Lehavi 2010-07-20T10:36:28Z 2010-07-20T10:36:28Z

<p>The MSRIs <a href="http://www.msri.org/calendar/attachments/sfchron/ba_ucmath_067_pc.jpg" rel="nofollow">eightfold way</a></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32632#32632 Allan Edmonds 2010-07-20T13:19:49Z 2010-07-20T13:19:49Z

<p>The sculptures of <strong>Morton C Bradley</strong> are not so widely known. He was originally an art conservator in Boston, but he also explored geometric shapes and color to create many sculptures. They are "a reflection of his fascination with the science of color, his admiration for traditional patterns, his exploration of mathematical designs." (Quote from web site below.) He never sold a single piece of work. At his death he donated his entire estate to Indiana University. The IU Art Museum is cataloging his work and arranging exhibits. They've created a web site <a href="http://www.iub.edu/~iuam/online_modules/bradley/" rel="nofollow">http://www.iub.edu/~iuam/online_modules/bradley/</a> that discusses and displays some of his work. In comparison with other work already mentioned here, perhaps the most significant thing is his deep exploration of color in his sculptures.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32638#32638 Robin Saunders 2010-07-20T13:52:17Z 2010-07-20T14:03:20Z

<p>Does the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_National_Aquatics_Center" rel="nofollow">National Aquatics Centre</a> in Beijing count? It illustrates the Weaire-Phelan structure, a recent (and the first) counterexample to Kelvin's conjecture.</p> <p><a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/images/I065/10328078.aspx" rel="nofollow">Here's</a> one of a large number of nice mathematical sculptures at the Science Museum in London.</p> <p><a href="http://www.cs.ubc.ca/nest/imager/contributions/snoeyink/sculpt.html" rel="nofollow">This sculpture</a> is made of 30 interlocking pieces and requires many hands to assemble or disassemble.</p> <p><a href="http://steve.brim.net//star.html" rel="nofollow">This sprinkler</a> illustrates a theorem that a 3d solid can be constructed to cast any desired set of silhouettes (also illustrated on the cover of <i>Gödel, Escher, Bach</i>).</p> <p>The last three were found on the three-dimensional geometry page of <a href="http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/junkyard" rel="nofollow">this wonderful collection</a>.</p> <p>Finally, a shameless plug of <a href="http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32068/the-gomboc-and-monostatic-objects" rel="nofollow">one of my own questions</a>.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/32751#32751 Dick Palais 2010-07-21T06:38:53Z 2010-07-21T06:38:53Z

<p>I am by coincidence in Paris at this moment, attending a meeting (the first) of ESMA, the European Society for Math and Art. George Hart is giving a talk in two hours on his sculpture. The website of ESMA is here: <a href="http://mathart.eu/" rel="nofollow">http://mathart.eu/</a> and the program of the meeting here: <a href="http://mathart.eu/en/conf10program.html" rel="nofollow">http://mathart.eu/en/conf10program.html</a>, and a web tour of the associated exhibition is here: <a href="http://mathart.eu/ihp10/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://mathart.eu/ihp10/index.html</a> There was a talk yesterday about Stan Wagon's snow sculptures by John Sullivan, one of the team.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/46549#46549 Michael Hardy 2010-11-18T22:35:55Z 2010-11-18T22:35:55Z

<p>I think there are some sculptures by Helaman Ferguson on the campuses of Macalester College and the University of St. Thomas, both in St. Paul, Minnesota.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/46882#46882 Gerry Myerson 2010-11-22T00:21:45Z 2010-11-22T00:21:45Z

<p>Borromean rings on campus of George Washington University in Washington, DC; unfortunately, I didn't make a note of the name of the artist. <a href="http://www.maths.mq.edu.au/~gerry/IMG.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.maths.mq.edu.au/~gerry/IMG.jpg</a></p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/58312#58312 Stan Wagon 2011-03-13T03:31:49Z 2011-03-13T03:31:49Z

<p>A month ago our team completed, over four days, a very large geometric sculpture out of 20 tons of snow. Eva Hild of Sweden designed it and came over to work with us. The complete story is at</p> <p><a href="http://stanwagon.com/snow/breck2011/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://stanwagon.com/snow/breck2011/index.html</a></p> <p>The videos linked at the top of the page allow you to walk around the work. </p> <p>Stan Wagon</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/32479/what-are-some-mathematical-sculptures/58335#58335 Colin Reid 2011-03-13T13:55:49Z 2011-03-13T13:55:49Z

<p>Perhaps these are too small to count as sculptures, but there is quite a respectable collection of models of mathematical objects on display in the Mathematical Institute in Goettingen.</p>