Milnor and D’Arcy Thompson

I was hoping to post another video at the end of last week. Unfortunately, I caught a cold and, even though I am better, my voice hasn’t been good enough for the final voiceover. So instead I’ve got a bit of a treat for you. Yes I know I should have saved it for your Christmas present.

If you are a fan of D’Arcy Thompson‘s classic On Shape and Form, then this really will be a treat for you.


On Growth and Form cover

On Growth and Form cover


And if you are a fan of John Milnor, the author of the mathematical classic Morse Theory, then you will be in double treat heaven. This is a video of John Milnor talking about the ideas in Thompson’s book.

If you have read the book, then you will probably remember his pictures of the morphing of fishes and other animals such as the following:


Morphing of fishes

Morphing of fishes



And if you haven’t read the book, then get thee to a bookshop (online or physical!).

The material may be a bit advanced for a general audience dealing as it does with conformal and projective transformations.

The video is at http://video.ias.edu/milnor-80th. Enjoy!

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