[vimeo url=http://vimeo.com/47502276]
Matthew Shlian sculpts paper by folding and cutting it.
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Bill Thurston has died
William Thurston died yesterday of cancer, aged 65.
Thurston was one of the greatest contemporary mathematicians; a huge figure in low-dimensional topology. I won’t bother writing out a mathematical biography – Wikipedia and MacTutor have all the relevant information, as usual, and I won’t pretend I know a huge amount about the exact details of Thurston’s achievement. Instead, I’ve tried to gather together a few links from around the web that give an idea of why Prof Thurston was so widely admired.
The Guardian’s open access round-up
These open access round-ups I’ve been doing are a good idea, eh?
The Guardian agrees: they’ve posted their own open access round up. It’s less of a “what’s new” and more of a “the story so far”, though.
Math/Maths 108: Not burdened with modern theories
A new episode of the Math/Maths Podcast has been released.
A conversation about mathematics between the UK and USA from Pulse-Project.org. This week Samuel and Peter spoke about: new 11-set Venn diagram; In Defense of Algebra; Understanding maths ‘more important than learning by rote’; A glider on an aperiodic cellular automaton exists!; Human cycles: History as science; Statistical Probability That Mitt Romney’s New Twitter Followers Are Just Normal Users: 0%; What do Christian fundamentalists have against set theory?; James Cameron to produce story of reclusive Russian genius; and more.
Get this episode: Math/Maths 108: Not burdened with modern theories
David’s de Bruijn sequence card trick
A few days ago, my friend David asked me if I could help him with a card trick. I said I could, hence this post. I managed to pin David down in front of my camera long enough for him to demonstrate the trick; a full explanation follows this video:
A glider on an aperiodic cellular automaton exists!
Good news, everyone! I literally jumped out of my seat and punched the air when I saw this story. It’s as if this site was set up specifically to report on this exact piece of news.
G4G Celebration of Mind 2012 Event Map is live
The event map for the Gathering for Gardner Celebration of Mind 2012 is now live, with nine events already listed in North and South America and Europe. More will surely be added in time.
These are parties “to celebrate the legacy of Martin Gardner on or around Sunday, October 21, 2012 through the enjoyment of Puzzles, Magic, Recreational Math, Lewis Carroll, Skepticism and Rationality”. The website explains:
Celebrations can be large or intimate depending on the event. They don’t have to be formal and range from a few friends getting together to discuss the above all the way up to series of lectures at Universities and Science Cafes.
In 2010 there were 66 on five continents and in 2011 there were 70 events on all seven (yes, seven) . This will be the third Celebration of Mind.
More information: You can find an event to attend in your area or sign up to host one.