Invented in 1974, patented in 1975 and released for sale in Hungary in 1977, Rubik’s Cube could certainly be considered to have reached its 40th birthday this year. To celebrate, inventor Ernő Rubik has helped put together a special exhibition at Liberty Science Centre, New Jersey, celebrating the history of the hexahedral enigma. The exhibition, called ‘Beyond Rubik’s Cube’, opens on 26th April for several months.
TV maths advocate and certified old person Johnny Ball is hoping to stage what will be a record-breaking World’s Largest Maths Lesson, by filling a stadium with kids and talking to them all about maths at the same time. The event will take place on March 19th, during National Science and Engineering week, and will be aimed at 9-13 year olds.
The current world record is 2,981, set in Nigeria in July 2013, and they’re hoping to smash that using Leeds United’s Elland Road stadium (capacity: 39,460) – Johnny Ball himself has stated he’d be happy with “5, 6, 7 or 8,000 kids” (7 kids probably isn’t enough – better shoot for 8,000). The event is being sponsored by Yorkshire-based boiler maintenance company (?!) Help-Link, and is supported by Leeds City Council.
If you’re a maths teacher in Yorkshire, or know anyone who is, tickets are free and you can apply by emailing the organisers. Details are below.
TV legend hosts bid to stage the world’s biggest maths lesson at stadium, at the Yorkshire Evening Post.
Help-Link to break a Guinness World record in 2014, on the Help-Link website.
Help-Link UK’s Giant Maths Lesson with Johnny Ball, on YouTube.
Event flyer (PDF)
National Science and Engineering week.
via Alex Bellos on Twitter