Mathematics Professor Invited to International Exhibition and Special Lecture Oversees

Edmund Harriss, 2018

Two taurus woven together with a string of lights included.

Edmund Harriss, clinical assistant professor from the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Department of Mathematical Sciences, was invited to host an exhibition of curvehedras at this year's Imperial Lates: Xmaths, as well as a special lecture in the following week, at South Kensington Campus of the Imperial College of London.

The Imperial Lates is a public event where mathematicians from all over the world are invited to host exhibits detailing the marvels and wonders of mathematics in fun and interesting ways. For his panel, Harriss and his team display the inherent beauty of mathematics where crowds are able to experiment with Penrose tiles and build their own 3D shapes from 2D card inserts.

After the exhibition, Harriss will give a special lecture at South Kensington Campus on "Experiencing Mathematics," a talk on using mathematics to aid in visually commutating complex ideas and convey experiences. In this lecture, Harriss also worked with University of Arkansas Department of Mathematical Sciences associate professor, Jeremy Van Horn Morris and Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design associate professor, Carl Smith.

Special Lecture Abstract: The language of proof gives mathematicians a powerful way to precisely communicate the details of their ideas. Yet behind any good proof lies deep intuition that can be harder to communicate. In contrast the world of art has powerful ideas to communicate unstatable ideas. What can we do in mathematics to communicate intuition and experience? Illustration and visualizations are a start, but have a chance of simply being passively observed. This talk will describe examples of teaching and research mathematical experiences, from coloring pages and projective geometry through Gauss Bonnet to Lie Algebras and Markov's Theorem on Diophantine approximation. The projects discussed include joint work with mathematicians Pierre Arnoux (Univ. Aix Marseille) and Jeremy Van Horn Morris (University of Arkansas) and landscape architect Carl Smith (University of Arkansas).