Speaker: 

Hendrik Lenstra

Institution: 

Leiden University

Time: 

Thursday, January 9, 2014 - 4:00pm to 5:00pm

Host: 

Location: 

CalIT2 Auditorium

In 1956, the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher made an unusual
lithograph with the title `Print Gallery'. It shows a young man
viewing a print in an exhibition gallery. Amongst the buildings
depicted on the print, he sees paradoxically the very same gallery
that he is standing in. A lot is known about the way in which
Escher made his lithograph. It is not nearly as well known that it
contains a hidden `Droste effect', or infinite repetition; but
this is brought to light by a mathematical analysis of the studies
used by Escher. On the basis of this discovery, a team of
mathematicians at Leiden produced a series of hallucinating
computer animations. These show, among others, what happens
inside the mysterious spot in the middle of the lithograph that
Escher left blank.