Latvian Mathematician Daina Taimiņa, image by Daina Taimiņa
Daina Taimiņa Awarded the Euler Book Prize
Daina Taimiņa’s unique path to the Euler Book Prize used a crochet hook. In “Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes“, the mathematics of hyperbolic geometry are brought to three dimensional life through the art of crocheting.
When she won the Diagram Prize for oddest book title, she remarked, “I have never received a prize. My career has been quite bizarre so I do think that this award really reflects it – I am proud.”
Incomplete Hyperbolic Pseudosphere: Image by EraPhernalia Vintage
Hyperbolic geometry is a non-Euclidean geometry in which Euclid’s “Parallel Postulate” is changed to say that many different infinite straight lines may intersect at a point, P, but not intersect a specific straight line L that does not intersect P.
In Euclidean geometry, there is only one line on point P that is parallel to line L.
The Hyperbolic Disk (seen below) is an aesthetically pleasing hyperbolic shape in two dimensions.
Hyperbolic Disk with UNICEF Symbols, picture by fdecomite
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