Polyhedra Polymath

December 19, 2002 12:48 PM

Prof. George W. Hart, of the Computer Science Department at SUNY Stony Brook, has an enviable web presence. His Encyclopedia of Polyhedra alone is worth the visit, his geometric sculptures make the nerd in me weep at their beauty, and his trilobite recipe looks mighty yummy.
posted by ewagoner (12 comments total)

thank you for this link. the nerd in me is also weeping... and the trilobite cookies are just begging to be made.
posted by greengrl at 1:03 PM on December 19, 2002

George Hart has been a speaker at Mathcamp a couple of times, and we got to do a little geometrical sculpture with him, using Zometool - the TinkerToys of geeks. Here's a few pics of a creation we made under his direction: a 3-D projection of a regular 4-D hypersolid. Its "faces" are dodecahedra (here it is from a different angle.) Dr. Hart wrote a book on Zometool, in case you're interested in exploring the geometric possibilities of this "toy".
posted by meep at 1:16 PM on December 19, 2002

How cool am I that all three of the links the the FPP are already purple in my browser? :)
posted by Space Coyote at 1:29 PM on December 19, 2002

I (heart) polyhedra. Here a nice link that lets you play with Platonic Solids in 3d.
posted by gwint at 1:33 PM on December 19, 2002

The trilobiute cookies are priceless: "These cookies are the result of my most recent research into what ancient trilobites would have tasted like if primitive biochemical processes were based on jam/chocolate/cookie molecules. Independent paleoconfectionary laboratories often ask for my formula, so I have placed it here for the world to enjoy."
posted by pjgulliver at 1:33 PM on December 19, 2002

Awesome, quite inspiring. Thanks for the link.
posted by skimble at 1:42 PM on December 19, 2002

Good lord.
posted by gottabefunky at 1:43 PM on December 19, 2002

The trilobite cookies are priceless

also his comments on how to consume them: "Yum-yum, eat 'em up. They'll soon be extinct once more"!!! this guy is King of the Nerd Dads! :-D
posted by serafinapekkala at 1:46 PM on December 19, 2002

Why is this on an office chair?
posted by Espoo2 at 2:11 PM on December 19, 2002

Those sculptures are mindboggling. He's like a modern-day Escher, but working in 3-D and even dorkier. Great find.
posted by hippugeek at 3:06 PM on December 19, 2002

Not only a genius, but a great sense of humor..."The name Gonads of the Rich and Famous [for a pair of complex plaster 'spheres'] reflects, in part, the fact that these are very expensive to produce.  3D Printing is a new and expensive process. I hope that the costs come down in the future, so ordinary people can enjoy such nice gonads."
Really cool link. Thx.
posted by LairBob at 6:06 PM on December 19, 2002

This guy rocks, ewagoner, thanks for the links. I had seen his sculptures some time ago & loved them, but I never saw the trilobite recipe, and looks like there are many more goodies to explore. Check out one of my favorite sculptures, Just Two Cavities.
posted by madamjujujive at 7:06 PM on December 19, 2002