Wednesday, 18. July 2007
Topic: SCIENCE - on July 18, 2007 at 10:46:00 AM CEST
Möbius strip unravelled
Mathematicians solve 75-year-old mystery of infinite loop's shape.
Eugene Starostin's desk is littered with rectangular pieces of paper. He picks one up, twists it, and joins the two ends with a pin. The resulting shape has a beautiful simplicity to it — the mathematical symbol for infinity (infinity) in three-dimensional form. "Look," he says, as he traces his finger along its side, "whatever path you take, you always end up where you started."
Discovered independently by two German mathematicians in 1858 — but named after just one of them — the Möbius strip has beguiled artists, illuminated science lessons and stubbornly resisted definition.
... Comment
