Margaret Wertheim #science writer presents #hyperbolic #space #Melbourne [#geekgirl]

Corals, Carbon and the Cosmos.

While nature has been playing with permutations of hyperbolic space for hundreds of millions of years – in corals, cactii, sea-slugs and lettuce leaves – human mathematicians have spent centuries trying to prove that such forms were impossible.

Science writer and exhibition curator, Margaret Wertheim discusses the wondrously interweaving, multi-faceted story of hyperbolic space. How do hyperbolic forms manifest in nature, technology and art?

In 1991 Margaret moved to Los Angeles where she founded the Institute For Figuring, a non-profit organisation devoted to “the aesthetic and poetic dimensions of science and mathematics.” Through the IFF she has curated art+science exhibitions for museums and galleries around the world, including the Hayward Gallery in London and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. The IFF’s Crochet Coral Reef project (which she created with her artist-twin-sister Christine), is now the largest participatory art and science project in the world.

Presented by RMIT University in conjunction with AMSI’s annual mathematics graduate student Summer School.

Thursday, Jan 14th RMIT Swanston Academic Building (Building 80), Level 2, Room 2, City Campus

For more information visit http://bit.ly/1Zo6NBr

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1681342205481153/

Tickets are free but you must RSVP.