Alain Goriely
@alaingoriely.bsky.social
Professor of Mathematical Modelling at Oxford University
and Gresham Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London
and Gresham Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London
Yet another popular myth is that figures and inscriptions have different sizes so that they appear the same size
[5/n]
[5/n]
October 21, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Yet another popular myth is that figures and inscriptions have different sizes so that they appear the same size
[5/n]
[5/n]
A third popular myth is that the corner columns are cleverly designed thicker so that they look exactly like the other ones
[4/n]
[4/n]
October 21, 2025 at 6:40 AM
A third popular myth is that the corner columns are cleverly designed thicker so that they look exactly like the other ones
[4/n]
[4/n]
Another myth is that the small swelling in the columns (entasis) is designed to make them look straight.
All three statements below are incorrect.
[3/n]
All three statements below are incorrect.
[3/n]
October 21, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Another myth is that the small swelling in the columns (entasis) is designed to make them look straight.
All three statements below are incorrect.
[3/n]
All three statements below are incorrect.
[3/n]
The best know Parthenon myth is that the stylobate and architrave curvatures interact with the columns as in the Hering illusion to achieve rectilinearity.
All three statements below are incorrect.
[2/n]
All three statements below are incorrect.
[2/n]
October 21, 2025 at 6:40 AM
The best know Parthenon myth is that the stylobate and architrave curvatures interact with the columns as in the Hering illusion to achieve rectilinearity.
All three statements below are incorrect.
[2/n]
All three statements below are incorrect.
[2/n]
Another very nice example of monohedric soft tiling.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
October 7, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Another very nice example of monohedric soft tiling.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Another graduation in the Sheldonian today in Oxford.
(started in 1670).
With parents around, it is a good day to check the almost universal law that boys are taller than their mother.
(started in 1670).
With parents around, it is a good day to check the almost universal law that boys are taller than their mother.
September 27, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Another graduation in the Sheldonian today in Oxford.
(started in 1670).
With parents around, it is a good day to check the almost universal law that boys are taller than their mother.
(started in 1670).
With parents around, it is a good day to check the almost universal law that boys are taller than their mother.
This Tuesday 16 September, I will give my first Gresham Lecture of the year in London. The theme this year is the Geometry of Nature. I will start with one of my favourite subjects: Chirality. If interested, you can join in person or online www.gresham.ac.uk/speakers/pro...
September 15, 2025 at 9:09 AM
This Tuesday 16 September, I will give my first Gresham Lecture of the year in London. The theme this year is the Geometry of Nature. I will start with one of my favourite subjects: Chirality. If interested, you can join in person or online www.gresham.ac.uk/speakers/pro...
I find the authors' restraint remarkable. Rather than jumping on sensationalist claims "We found life on Mars", they lay down very clear arguments about its possibility and what is needed to prove it. Really beautiful scientific argument.
Do read the original paper!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Do read the original paper!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
September 11, 2025 at 6:50 AM
I find the authors' restraint remarkable. Rather than jumping on sensationalist claims "We found life on Mars", they lay down very clear arguments about its possibility and what is needed to prove it. Really beautiful scientific argument.
Do read the original paper!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Do read the original paper!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
How about Pierre de Fermat? His portrait is everywhere??
Actually, no verified image from his lifetime can be confirmed as authentic.
www.academie-sciences-lettres-toulouse.fr/wp-content/u...
“.. rare, if not nonexistent, are those (portraits) we know to be authentic…”
Actually, no verified image from his lifetime can be confirmed as authentic.
www.academie-sciences-lettres-toulouse.fr/wp-content/u...
“.. rare, if not nonexistent, are those (portraits) we know to be authentic…”
September 2, 2025 at 4:02 PM
How about Pierre de Fermat? His portrait is everywhere??
Actually, no verified image from his lifetime can be confirmed as authentic.
www.academie-sciences-lettres-toulouse.fr/wp-content/u...
“.. rare, if not nonexistent, are those (portraits) we know to be authentic…”
Actually, no verified image from his lifetime can be confirmed as authentic.
www.academie-sciences-lettres-toulouse.fr/wp-content/u...
“.. rare, if not nonexistent, are those (portraits) we know to be authentic…”
When we talk about mathematicians, we often try to show what they looked like.
Here is a short list of famous mathematicians/scientists with no known portrait (AFAIK):
Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BCE)
Zeno of Elea (c. 490–430 BCE)
Al-Khwarizmi (c. 780–850)
Nicole Oresme (c. 1320–1382)
1/2
Here is a short list of famous mathematicians/scientists with no known portrait (AFAIK):
Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BCE)
Zeno of Elea (c. 490–430 BCE)
Al-Khwarizmi (c. 780–850)
Nicole Oresme (c. 1320–1382)
1/2
September 2, 2025 at 3:47 PM
When we talk about mathematicians, we often try to show what they looked like.
Here is a short list of famous mathematicians/scientists with no known portrait (AFAIK):
Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BCE)
Zeno of Elea (c. 490–430 BCE)
Al-Khwarizmi (c. 780–850)
Nicole Oresme (c. 1320–1382)
1/2
Here is a short list of famous mathematicians/scientists with no known portrait (AFAIK):
Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BCE)
Zeno of Elea (c. 490–430 BCE)
Al-Khwarizmi (c. 780–850)
Nicole Oresme (c. 1320–1382)
1/2
Supposedly left-handed DNA reverses hair damage in 4 minutes.
April 14, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Supposedly left-handed DNA reverses hair damage in 4 minutes.
In this paper, we connect local damage to brain vasculature to global progression of toxic proteins leading to neurodegenerative diseases.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
We identify situations where disease initiation can be caused by focal hypoperfusion following vascular injury.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
We identify situations where disease initiation can be caused by focal hypoperfusion following vascular injury.
April 2, 2025 at 5:30 PM
In this paper, we connect local damage to brain vasculature to global progression of toxic proteins leading to neurodegenerative diseases.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
We identify situations where disease initiation can be caused by focal hypoperfusion following vascular injury.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
We identify situations where disease initiation can be caused by focal hypoperfusion following vascular injury.
March 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
All you ever need to know about matematyka stosowana.
Now in Polish (my father’s mother tongue, he would have approved).
Now in Polish (my father’s mother tongue, he would have approved).
March 15, 2025 at 8:00 AM
All you ever need to know about matematyka stosowana.
Now in Polish (my father’s mother tongue, he would have approved).
Now in Polish (my father’s mother tongue, he would have approved).
Newton s flagon is on display at the Royal Society.
Beware: the pellet with the poison is in the flagon with the dragon
Beware: the pellet with the poison is in the flagon with the dragon
March 13, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Newton s flagon is on display at the Royal Society.
Beware: the pellet with the poison is in the flagon with the dragon
Beware: the pellet with the poison is in the flagon with the dragon
One of the key problems in biological growth is to obtain information about the forces in a growing tissue by just recording its deformation.
In this collaboration with José A. Sanz-Herrera, we show that this inverse problem can be solved.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1kiv357ZkC...
In this collaboration with José A. Sanz-Herrera, we show that this inverse problem can be solved.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1kiv357ZkC...
March 6, 2025 at 8:25 AM
One of the key problems in biological growth is to obtain information about the forces in a growing tissue by just recording its deformation.
In this collaboration with José A. Sanz-Herrera, we show that this inverse problem can be solved.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1kiv357ZkC...
In this collaboration with José A. Sanz-Herrera, we show that this inverse problem can be solved.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1kiv357ZkC...
The tension between the doers and the thinkers is well explained by Vitruvius (2,000 years ago)
February 3, 2025 at 6:28 AM
The tension between the doers and the thinkers is well explained by Vitruvius (2,000 years ago)
I learned from the wonderful lecture of Stanislas Dehaene on Graphics Perception that Edmund Halley was the first to introduce the idea of a graph representing physical quantities (which we take for granted these days).
Stop by his house when in Oxford.
www.college-de-france.fr/fr/agenda/co...
Stop by his house when in Oxford.
www.college-de-france.fr/fr/agenda/co...
February 2, 2025 at 9:06 AM
I learned from the wonderful lecture of Stanislas Dehaene on Graphics Perception that Edmund Halley was the first to introduce the idea of a graph representing physical quantities (which we take for granted these days).
Stop by his house when in Oxford.
www.college-de-france.fr/fr/agenda/co...
Stop by his house when in Oxford.
www.college-de-france.fr/fr/agenda/co...
Do we know the number of neurons in the human brain?
A typical value cited in the literature is 86 billion.
However, as I argue in this essay, the data does not justify this number and we do not have yet a satisfactory answer
academic.oup.com/brain/advanc...
A typical value cited in the literature is 86 billion.
However, as I argue in this essay, the data does not justify this number and we do not have yet a satisfactory answer
academic.oup.com/brain/advanc...
January 18, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Do we know the number of neurons in the human brain?
A typical value cited in the literature is 86 billion.
However, as I argue in this essay, the data does not justify this number and we do not have yet a satisfactory answer
academic.oup.com/brain/advanc...
A typical value cited in the literature is 86 billion.
However, as I argue in this essay, the data does not justify this number and we do not have yet a satisfactory answer
academic.oup.com/brain/advanc...
What do Soft cells, Kelvin cells, P-Schwarz cells, and the truncated octahedron have in common?
They are all part of a new space-filling family!
Find out more about the beautiful geometry of cells in this paper
arxiv.org/pdf/2412.04491
They are all part of a new space-filling family!
Find out more about the beautiful geometry of cells in this paper
arxiv.org/pdf/2412.04491
December 9, 2024 at 5:45 AM
What do Soft cells, Kelvin cells, P-Schwarz cells, and the truncated octahedron have in common?
They are all part of a new space-filling family!
Find out more about the beautiful geometry of cells in this paper
arxiv.org/pdf/2412.04491
They are all part of a new space-filling family!
Find out more about the beautiful geometry of cells in this paper
arxiv.org/pdf/2412.04491
Another one for the bucket list: when your paper makes it to Saturday Night Life
Here is the paper
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Here is the paper
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
December 8, 2024 at 7:39 PM
Another one for the bucket list: when your paper makes it to Saturday Night Life
Here is the paper
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Here is the paper
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...