Author promotes 'The Golden Ratio'
By MATT BRAMANTI
News Writer
It may not seem like an exciting number, but 1.61803 is moving up in the world, according to astrophysicist Mario Livio, who spoke in the Hesburgh Library Wednesday evening. The number, known as the "Golden Ratio," measures a certain geometrical proportion with applications in physics, mathematics, music, even art. Livio, an Israeli veteran of three wars, heads the science division at the Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. Livio was at Notre Dame to promote his new book, "The Golden Ratio," which is aimed at a popular audience.
The book discusses the development of the ratio, first described by the Pythagoreans in the fifth century B.C. Livio credited the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid with unveiling the true significance of the number. "It suddenly played a crucial role in the elements that made the universe," Livio said.
The number is said to represent the ideal aesthetic proportion. Livio displayed a reproduction of the Mona Lisa, with the famous lady's face inscribed within a rectangle.
The length and width of the figure were exactly related by the golden ratio. Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí likewise used the proportion in his works. The number can also be found in the musical works of Hungarian composer Bela Bartok and French composer Claude Debussy.
Livio stressed the relationship between mathematical rules and the world as people perceive it.
"Mathematics is a human invention … but nature dictated to human beings what mathematics to invent," Livio said. This theme was discussed in his last book, "The Accelerating Universe," which dealt with the aesthetic value of scientific theories.
Livio said he aims to follow in the words of English dramatist Christopher Marlowe: "Still climbing after knowledge infinite and always moving as the restless spheres."
All News Stories for Thursday, February 6, 2003
