Mathematica: A World of Numbers... and Beyond

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[edit] History of the Mathematica Exhibition

In March, 1961 a new science wing at the California Museum of Science and Industry [1] in Los Angeles opened. IBM had been asked by the Museum to make a contribution; IBM in turn asked the famous California designer team of Charles Eames and his wife Ray Eames to come up with a good proposal. The result was that the Eames Office was commissioned by IBM to design a magnificent interactive exhibition called Mathematica: a world of numbers...and beyond.[2] This was the first of many exhibitions that would be designed by the Eames Office.

This 3,000-square foot exhibition stayed at the Museum till January 1998, making it the longest running of any corporate sponsored museum exhibition.[6] Furthermore, it is the only one of the dozens of exhibitions designed by the Eames Office that is still extant. This original Mathematica Exhibition is now owned by and on display at the New York Hall of Science.[7]

In November, 1961 a duplicate was made for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago[8] where it stayed till late 1980. From there it moved to the Museum of Science, Boston[9] where it is currently on display.

Another version was made for the IBM Exhibit at the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair.[3] Subsequently it was briefly on display in New York City, and then installed in the Pacific Science Center in Seattle where it stayed till 1980; then it was moved to SciTrek[10], the Science and Technology Museum of Atlanta.[4]

[edit] A View of the Mathematica Exhibition

The link[11] will take you to the Eames Office Resources page---on the middle of the left side of this page is a picture of the Mathematica Exhibition---if you click on the link below this picture (labelled Click here to see a quicktime VR), you can see the exhibition (provided your computer has Quicktime) as it appeared in a 2000 showing at the Art Center College of Design in Pasedena, California.

Moving your cursor around the picture allows you to have a full 360 degee view of the room. On the fifty foot long History Wall you can see a huge prototype of the Men of Modern Mathematics timeline poster (described below). On the opposite 50 foot long Image Wall one sees pictures of objects, both natural and man-made, illustrating connections with mathematics.

[edit] The 1966 "Men of Modern Mathematics" Poster

In 1966, five years after the opening of the Mathematica Exhibit, IBM published a 2' x 12' timeline poster---titled "Men of Modern Mathematics"--- based on the items displayed on the exhibit's History Wall, and distributed free copies to academics. The timeline covers the period from 1000 AD to approximately 1950 AD, and the poster has biographical and historical items along with numerous pictures showing progress in various areas of science, including architecture. The mathematical items in this chart were prepared by a single person, Professor Raymond Redheffer[5] of UCLA.

This mathematical timeline poster is unique---there simply is no competing poster that has been widely distributed---and mathematics departments around the world have proudly displayed this chart on their walls (see, for example, the link given in the footnote on Redheffer). IBM made only one edition, and stopped publishing it many years ago. It is by now sorely in need of updating, and the omission of the women in mathematics needs to be rectified (only one, Emmy Noether, appears on the poster).[6]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Called the California Science Center since 1998.
  2. ^ The physical component of the exhibit was owned by the Museum, it was financially supported by IBM, and the Eames Office retained the artistic property rights.
  3. ^ Moon Duchin mentions the Mathematica exhibit at the World's Fair on page 28 of "The Sexual Politics of Genius", University of Chicago[1].
  4. ^ The Wikipedia article SciTrek says that, due to a lack of State funding, SciTrek was forced to close in 2004 and all exhibits were sold off.
  5. ^ Redheffer passed away in 2005, and the online memorial[2] at UCLA points out that even though he was an accomplished mathematician and lecturer, he was probably most famous for his work on the IBM chart.
  6. ^ The fact that Emmy Noether is the only female on the poster, and in the Mathematica Exhibit, is well known---see for example the web page [3] which describes the Noether Exhibition at the TU Munich. The mathematician/poet JoAnne Growney[4] has composed a poem My Dance is Mathematics[5] that begins with a reference to Emmy Noether appearing in the Men of Modern Mathematics history wall at the 1964 World's Fair.
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