NEWS AND NOTES

Art of the Equation

>>> The notion that math can be beautiful is hardly an uncommon one: In films ranging from A Beauti- ful Mind and Good Will Hunting to The Theory of Everything, the elegance of mathematical thought has been a counterweight for messier realities. But what about math itself as art?

Enter Concinnitas, a set of 10 aquatint prints curated by math and computer science professor Daniel Rockmore with Robert Feld- man, president of Parasol Press. Each print shows a mathematical statement conjured by different Nobel laureates, Fields medalists and other math types, who were asked to draw up their “most beau- tiful mathematical expression.”

A longtime dream of Feldman’s, the idea found Rockmore when he and the publisher first met, on a plane. “I didn’t even think about it,” Rockmore says of hearing the proposal. “I said, ‘Well, I’ll help you do that.’”

The son of a physicist, Rockmore has been fascinated by mathemati- cal forms since childhood—“When you’re 6, it’s just the mystery and the way they look,” he says—mak- ing Concinnitas as much a passion project for him as it was for Feldman. Between 2012 and 2014 the pair cold-called every major mathematician they knew to gauge interest. They provided no guide- lines beyond that initial, tantalizing prompt.

“You could go tell an artist that you want him or her to make a painting of a barn, but this is the artist’s work,” Rockmore says. “The idea was to have them express what they felt was beautiful.” The submissions were conceptions rooted in innovation, symmetry and complexity. Each mathematician provides an explanation for each equation. (Shown above: “Ampère’s Law” by Simon K. Donaldson.)

Concinnitas, which has traveled to several U.S. cities and Zurich, is expected to appear at the Hood Museum later this year.