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SUMMARY:Mathematics and Life Drawing - Dr Allan McRobie\, Department of En
 gineering\, Cambridge University
DTSTART:20080311T193000Z
DTEND:20080311T210000Z
UID:TALK10812@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Holly Barclay
DESCRIPTION:Catastrophe Theory was largely created by the brilliant and ra
 ther extraordinary Fields Medal-winning French mathematician Rene Thom aro
 und 1970.\nIt soon gained a high profile in the public imagination and has
  since found many applications across the sciences and engineering.\n\nSom
 e applications - such as those in physics (optics and wave mechanics) and 
 engineering (stability theory of elastic structures\, ship stability and c
 omputer vision) - may be described as orthodox\, but others (in biological
  morphogenesis and the proposed applications in the social sciences\, for 
 example) have been more speculative.\n\nCurrently the theory is enjoying c
 onsiderable success in the analysis and understanding of gravitational len
 sing in the distant reaches of the Universe\, with profound consequences.\
 n\nAfter looking at this and other scientific applications\, this lecture 
 will head off in a different direction\, for it is not widely known that\n
 the theory also applies to a great deal of art.\nThe lecturer hopes to dem
 onstrate that even a basic\nunderstanding of Thom's mathematics can change
  one's appreciation of a great deal of both traditional and modern art\, w
 ith a particular emphasis on the nude.\n\nAllan McRobie is a Reader in the
  Department of Engineering at Cambridge. He is a structural engineer\nwith
  specialist interests in dynamics and stability. It was during a life draw
 ing class at the Department\,\n(classes that Allan had introduced there to
  broaden the horizons of the Engineering students) that he first recognise
 d the strong unifying resonances that exist between his lecture notes on s
 tability theory\nand the shapes in front of his eyes.\n\nWarning: this tal
 k contains mathematics\, art and nudity. Please do not attend if any offen
 d.
LOCATION:Newnham College MCR
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