Mathematician Presents at the National Museum of Mathematics

Chaim Goodman-Strauss, professor and chair of mathematical sciences, made a presentation exploring fundamental topological principles at the National Museum of Mathematics in New York in December.

His lecture “Shaping Surfaces - How Nature Uses Math to Sculpt the Geometry of Living Surfaces,” was one of only 12 selected for the museum’s Math Encounters lecture series in 2014. A special introduction was given by John Conway, prize-winning Princeton University mathematician and inventor of the cellular automaton Game of Life.

Mathematics illuminates the patterns that shape the world around us. The lecture discussed the surprising beauty and simplicity of the underlying principles that control the geometry of surfaces. Corals, leaves, lichens – even membranes and ears – are all living surfaces shaped through control over intrinsic geometry, even as those surfaces flex, twist, and grow.

“Professor Goodman-Strauss has been a diligent ambassador for Fulbright College and the university for many years,” said Todd Shields, dean of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. “He demonstrates his passion for mathematics through his willingness to share his expertise and imagination with others.”

Math Encounters is a public presentation series celebrating the spectacular world of mathematics and is sponsored by the Simons Foundation at the museum commonly known as MoMath.

"I am excited to have represented mathematics and the University of Arkansas at the National Museum of Mathematics," Goodman-Strauss said.

MoMath, which brands itself as the coolest thing that has ever happened to math, strives to enhance public understanding and the perception of mathematics. The museum’s activities lead a broad and diverse audience to understand the evolving, creative, human and aesthetic nature of mathematics. It received its official charter from the New York State Department of Education in 2009.