In 1623, Galileo Galilei wrote: “[Natural] philosophy is written in that great book which ever lies before our eyes—I mean the universe—but we cannot understand it if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols, in which it is written”. That language, of course, is mathematics. The translation of real-world phenomena into mathematical language, and the manipulation of such mathematical symbols to deduce new laws of reality to be put to experimental test, became one of the cornerstones of modern science. Most anything can be described in terms of mathematical equations. By observing the motion of the planets and illustrating their orbits through mathematics, Isaac Newton offered not only an explanation for the planetary trajectories observed but also a first model of gravity. Or in 1928, from an equation describing the behaviour of the electron, Paul Dirac foreshadowed the existence of the electron’s antimatter “twin”, the positron—experimentally observed only in 1932. Last year George L. Legendre, an architect who shares his last name with a famous French mathematician from the 18th century, published a book describing in mathematical form 92 of the countless types of pasta. Although this coffee-book-table exercise will likely provide no additional insight into the geometry of pasta, it may lay the foundations for the parametric generation of new, tasty and interesting-looking varieties of pasta—like pasta ioli, a spiraling shape Legendre designed and named after his daughter. “Pasta Graduates From Alphabet Soup to Advanced Geometry”, The New York Times Image: George L. Legendre, “Pasta by Design”, in The New York Times
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In 1623, Galileo Galilei wrote: “[Natural] philosophy is written in that great book which ever lies before our eyes—I mean the universe—but we cannot understand it if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols, in which it is written”. That language, of course, is mathematics. The translation of real-world phenomena into mathematical language, and the manipulation of such mathematical symbols to deduce new laws of reality to be put to experimental test, became one of the cornerstones of modern science. Most anything can be described in terms of mathematical equations. By observing the motion of the planets and illustrating their orbits through mathematics, Isaac Newton offered not only an explanation for the planetary trajectories observed but also a first model of gravity. Or in 1928, from an equation describing the behaviour of the electron, Paul Dirac foreshadowed the existence of the electron’s antimatter “twin”, the positron—experimentally observed only in 1932.

Last year George L. Legendre, an architect who shares his last name with a famous French mathematician from the 18th century, published a book describing in mathematical form 92 of the countless types of pasta. Although this coffee-book-table exercise will likely provide no additional insight into the geometry of pasta, it may lay the foundations for the parametric generation of new, tasty and interesting-looking varieties of pasta—like pasta ioli, a spiraling shape Legendre designed and named after his daughter.

“Pasta Graduates From Alphabet Soup to Advanced Geometry”, The New York Times

Image: George L. Legendre, “Pasta by Design”, in The New York Times