For the first time in more than 200 years, a team of mathematicians from Rice, Stanford and Indiana universities has discovered a new shape of geometrical minimal shape. Their 'genus one helicoid' looks like a parking garage ramp or a curved soap film. But when it's untwisted, it looks like a flat plane with a curved handle, like you can find on a coat hanger or a coffee mug. But if this beautiful surface is a great example of geometric optimization, even the mathematicians recognize that there is no practical use today for a helicoid with a handle. Read more...
Sources: Rice University news release, October 31, 2005; and various NASA's web sites
You'll find related stories by following the links below.
5:51:24 PM
Permalink
|
|
