MATH+ART Event

Stephen Ornes is an award-winning science writer in Nashville, Tennessee, who writes about people on the frontiers of math, physics, astronomy, computer science, and other areas. He works from a converted office shed in his backyard and is also a Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches classes on science communication and science podcasting. His work has appeared in Scientific American, Discover, New Scientist, Quanta, Science News for Students, and other outlets. He has received two AAAS/Kavli science journalism awards, as well as awards from the Association of Health Care Journalists and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. His feature article on the longest math proof in history appeared in Best American Science and Nature Writing.

How Math Becomes Art.  The connection between math and beauty is as old as math itself. But what does it mean for math to be beautiful? In this talk, science and math writer Stephen Ornes, author of Math Art, will explore this idea by a wide variety of visual artwork, mostly by living artists, that turn the lemmas, proofs, ideas, and abstract concepts from the world of mathematics into visually striking sculptures, paintings, digital artworks, and textiles. Highlighted works will include pi quilts by John Sims, crocheted hyperbolic planes by Daina Taimina, dynamic sculptures by John Edmark, and others.