The Perfect Shape Spiral Stories
This book uses the spiral shape as a key to a multitude of strange and seemingly disparate stories about art, nature, science, mathematics, and the human endeavour. In a way, the book is itself organized as a spiral, with almost disconnected chapters circ
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The Perfect Shape
Øyvind Hammer
The Perfect Shape Spiral Stories
Øyvind Hammer Natural History Museum University of Oslo Oslo, Norway
ISBN 978-3-319-47372-7 ISBN 978-3-319-47373-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-47373-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016959575 © Springer International Publishing AG 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Copernicus imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
Transient whorls in a turbulent mountain stream, always changing, never the same; majestic swirls of galaxies; the curls of a child’s hair; exquisite seashells in the sunlit tropical ocean; the perfect golden ornaments of bronze age Europe; the labyrinth of the Minotaur, and his brutal but elegant horns; the hieroglyphic paths of subatomic particles in the vast detectors of high-energy physics; volutes in a Greek temple dedicated to the glory of Poseidon; the narwhal’s tusk (or rather the unicorn’s, as the ancients knew well); the violent yet placid storms of Jupiter; the cochlea in the deep, dark recesses of your ears; the mathematician’s curves in the complex plane; climbing plants in an overgrown garden; the patterns of petals and seeds on the sunflower; winding stairs in a Renaissance palace; the helix of DNA; the accretion disc around a black hole; breaking ocean waves; a beach of golden sand behind a promontory; a viper in its attack position; a coil of rope on the deck of a sailing ship; the path traced by your fingertip as you unfold your finger. Spirals. No other shape evokes more strongly a sense of beauty, mystery and eternity. Cyclic, but not repeating, endless, but not unbounded, the spiral must surely be the Perfect Shape. Often one of the first figures drawn by a child, and one of the most beloved elements of decorative art, the spiral seems to draw you in through its coils, grabbi
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