Marjorie Senechal - Böcker

Dorothy Wrinch, a complicated and ultimately tragic figure, is remembered today for her much publicized feud with Linus Pauling over the shape of proteins, known as "the cyclol controversy." Pauling emerged victorious and is now seen as one of the 20th century's greatest scientists. History has proven less kind to Wrinch. Although some of Wrinch's theories did not pass the test of time, her contributions to the fields of Darwinism, probability and statistics, quantum mechanics, x-ray diffraction, and computer science were anything but inconsequential. Wrinch's story is also the story of the science of crystals and the ever-changing notion of symmetry fundamental to that science.Drawing on her own personal relationship with Wrinch as well as the papers archived at Smith College and elsewhere, Marjorie Senechal explores the life of this brilliant and controversial figure in I Died for Beauty. This biography provides a coherent biographical narration, a detailed account of the cyclol controversy, and a personal memoir of the author's relationship with Wrinch. Senechal presents a sympathetic portrait of the life and science of a luminous but tragically flawed character.

Molecules, galaxies, art galleries, sculptures, viruses, crystals, architecture, and more: Shaping Space—Exploring Polyhedra in Nature, Art, and the Geometrical Imagination is an exuberant survey of polyhedra and at the same time a hands-on, mind-boggling introduction to one of the oldest and most fascinating branches of mathematics.

Quasicrystals and Geometry brings together for the first time the many strands of contemporary research in quasicrystal geometry and weaves them into a coherent whole. The author describes the historical and scientific context of this work, and carefully explains what has been proved and what is conjectured. This, together with a bibliography of over 250 references, provides a solid background for further study. The discovery in 1984 of crystals with 'forbidden' symmetry posed fascinating and challenging problems in many fields of mathematics, as well as in the solid state sciences. Increasingly, mathematicians and physicists are becoming intrigued by the quasicrystal phenomenon, and the result has been an exponential growth in the literature on the geometry of diffraction patterns, the behaviour of the Fibonacci and other nonperiodic sequences, and the fascinating properties of the Penrose tilings and their many relatives.

Max Dehn (1878-1952) is known to mathematicians today for his seminal contributions to geometry and topology-Dehn surgery, Dehn twists, the Dehn invariant, etc. He is also remembered as the first mathematician to solve one of Hilbert's famous problems. However, Dehn's influence as a scholar and teacher extended far beyond his mathematics. Dehn also lived a remarkable life, described in this book in three phases. The first phase focuses on his early career as one of David Hilbert's most gifted students. The second, after World War I, treats his time in Frankfurt where he led an intimate community of mathematicians in explorations of historical texts. The final phase, after 1938, concerns his flight from Nazi Germany to Scandinavia and eventually to the United States where, after various teaching experiences, the Dehns settled at iconic Black Mountain College.This book is a collection of essays written by mathematicians and historians of art and science. It treats Dehn's mathematics and its influence, his journeys, and his remarkable engagement in history and the arts. A great deal of the information found in this book has never before been published.

Molecules, galaxies, art galleries, sculptures, viruses, crystals, architecture, and more: Shaping Space—Exploring Polyhedra in Nature, Art, and the Geometrical Imagination is an exuberant survey of polyhedra and at the same time a hands-on, mind-boggling introduction to one of the oldest and most fascinating branches of mathematics.