Willmore Surface Sculpture
Art In Durham, County Durham
When art meets mathematics you get a geometric granite sculpture.
How do you express a mathematical formula in a sculpture? Peter Sales and Bill Kataky produced a 4-lobed Willmore Torus in light grey granite.
The monument stands near the Calman Centre at the Mountjoy Campus of Durham University. A stone plaque gives some information
Willmore energy quantifies
How much a given surface deviates from a round sphere in differential geometry.
It is useful in understanding cell membranes
The University owns this sculpture along with many other pieces that were procured to the tune of 1.4 million pounds. It was all part of the 2012 build.
The sculpture is composed of two linked tori twisted to a square shape. I wonder how they came to decide the angles and curves?
The torus shape is best described as a ringed donut, and has many applications such as lifebuoys, o-rings, and glass beads
Thomas Willmore (1919 to 2005) studied differential geometry. That is someone who studies the geometry of smooth shapes which dates back to ancient Greece, and Roman times. The word Torus comes from latin meaning bulge/round cushion.
When it comes to understanding the formular for Willmore energy all I can say is Ich bin ein Berliner!
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How To Find Willmore Surface Sculpture
Where Is Willmore Surface Sculpture?
Lat / Long
54.76764, -1.572227
What three words
Where To Park For Willmore Surface Sculpture?
Lat / Long
54.768906, 54.768906
What three words
Paid street parking nearby
Contributed by Rosalind Parker
Thanks for reading through and getting to the end of this post. I enjoy exploring the Fabulous North (Especially as a Southerner residing up North). I like 'snippets' of information, and more so, if they are obscure, amusing or meaningful. The photographs are taken on a mobile phone, without any enhancements.
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