Wednesday Colloquia

Shapes and functions

by Prof. Shankar Ghosh (TIFR Mumbai)

Wednesday, June 23, 2021 from to (Asia/Kolkata)
at Online through ZOOM Webinar ( Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/97963259354?pwd=ZFZsa2xqWGJSZW5pUjZPNkNqeGlEZz09 )
Meeting ID: 979 6325 9354 Pass code: 04072020
Description
Shapes appeal to us, sometimes for their utility while at times they are just intriguing.  Some are fashioned from flat sheets while others evolve by assembling many smaller parts.  Tailor stitching our clothes, or an origamist working with paper are examples of the former while swarming of birds, formation of dunes are examples of the latter. Further, shapes are often responsible for counterintuitive mechanical responses e.g., the mechanics of the rattle back toy or the tippe top is indeed baffling. It is thus desirable to develop algorithms to obtain target shapes or design shapes to generate desired functions. The talk will be in two parts, in the first part I will speak about methods using which desired shapes can be molded from flat sheets without cutting or gluing. In the second part, I will show how simple shapes  can self-assemble   to exhibit non-trivial functions.  

References:


A significant part of this work has been done in collaboration with Prof. Nitin Nitsure.