References & Sources - August 15, 1998 
Cracking Kepler's sphere-packing problem
Mathematicians have proved Kepler's assertion that the pattern of neatly stacked oranges in a grocery — face-centered cubic packing of identical spheres — fills space more efficiently than any other arrangement.
References:
Information about the proof of the Kepler conjecture is available at http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~hales/countdown/description.html.
Further Readings:
Conway, J.H., and N.J.A. Sloane. 1993. Sphere Packings, Lattices, and Groups (2nd edition). New York: Springer-Verlag.
A mathematical introduction to sphere packing can be found at http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~eww6n/math/SpherePacking.html.
Sources:
Samuel L.P. Ferguson
Department of Mathematics
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Web site: http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~samf/Thomas C. Hales
Department of Mathematics
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Web site: http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~hales/
8/15/98
copyright 1998 ScienceService
