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Apropos geometry...
Posted:
Jun 24, 2008 6:30 PM
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Per my news to math-teach (Math Forum) earlier today,
those visiting New York City have an opportunity to catch
up on the distinguished career of a 20th century maverick:
a retrospective on Buckminster Fuller at the Whitney.
Fuller's geometric investigations were convergent with
many of the hot topics of his day, including sphere
packing, cartographic projection, organizing and
dissecting polyhedra, plus studying their axially spun
counterparts -- the genesis of both the geodesic spheres
and domes, for which Bucky is most well known in
architectural circles (Montreal '67, radomes etc.).
Shortly after he died in 1983, chemists stumbled upon a
hitherto unknown allotrope of carbon, named
buckminsterfullerene for being a naturally occurring
geodesic sphere (C60, or Bf). Lots of geometry - science
segues.
This exhibit follows close on the heels of 'Best of
Friends' which was about Fuller's long time collaboration
with Isamu Noguchi in particular, the Noguchi Garden
Museum being in Long Island City (also well worth seeing,
maybe take the cable car to Roosevelt Island, walk across
the bridge?). This exhibit later moved to the Henry Ford
Museum in Dearborn, where Fuller's Dymaxion House is on
permanent display.
I realize school is out for most of us, but summer is a
great time to to plan ahead, and Fuller's futurism is an
already a proved source of interesting lesson plans. Dig
a little deeper, and you'll find a bonanza, a gold mine,
of untapped and largely unexplored material.
Whitney Exhibit: June 26, 2008-September 21, 2008
Kirby
Links:
http://www.whitney.org/www/buckminster_fuller/about.jsp
http://www.thehenryford.org/museum/dymaxion.aspx
http://www.thehenryford.org/collections/archive.aspx
http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=1762462&tstart=0
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