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Surreal Films

A soapy solution to the math puzzle of turning a sphere inside out

Mathematicians have worked out a geometrically optimal transformation that minimizes the energy required to exchange a sphere's inside and outside surfaces.

 

References:

Francis, G., J.M. Sullivan, and C. Hartman. 1998. Computing sphere eversions. In Mathematical Visualization (H.-C. Hege and K. Polthier, eds.). New York: Springer-Verlag.

Information about the Optiverse video is available at http://new.math.uiuc.edu/optiverse/.

 

Further Readings:

Brakke, K.A. 1992. The surface evolver. Experimental Mathematics 1(No. 2):141.

Francis, G. 1987. A Topological Picturebook. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Francis, G., et al. 1997. The minimax sphere eversion. In Visualization and Mathematics (K. Polthier and H.-C. Hege, eds.). New York: Springer-Verlag.

Levy, S. 1995. Making Waves: A Guide to the Ideas behind Outside In. Wellesley, Mass.: A K Peters.

Phillips, A. 1966. Turning a surface inside out. Scientific American 214(May):112.

Peterson, I. 1995. A new twist on outside in. Science News 148(Sept. 2):155.

______. 1994. Constructing a stingy scaffolding for foam. Science News 145(March 5):149.

______. 1992. Forging links between mathematics and art. Science News 141(June 20):404.

______. 1989. The color of geometry. Science News 136(Dec. 23&30):136.

______. 1989. Inside moves. Science News 135(May 13):299.

Information about the Outside In video is available at http://www.geom.umn.edu/docs/outreach/oi/.

Sources:

John M. Sullivan
Department of Mathematics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana, IL 61801
Web site: http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~jms/

From Science News, Vol. 154, No. 15, October 10, 1998, p. 232.
Copyright Ó 1998 by Science Service.

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