4/11/2022 COVID Update: The State of Maine no longer requires masking or proof of vaccination to attend any public events, but individual venues are free to do so. For the latest information, visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention or the State of Maine’s COVID site.
- This event has passed.
The Crystallographic Restriction Theorem: A Story of Surprising Twists
April 4, 2016, 4:00 PM
Free
In this mathematics and statistics colloquium, Ken Shoemake will discuss the crystallographic restriction theorem, which lies close to the heart of crystal structures. Mineralogists and mathematicians studied many crystal specimens and their likely inner structure, and they concluded that the only possible rotational symmetries were two-fold, three-fold, four-fold, and six-fold. Mathematicians extended the theorem into higher dimensions, and Shoemake will follow the mathematical reasoning from geometry to matrices to polynomials and to primes. Refreshments available at 3:30 on the second floor of the Davis Science Center.