Do Plants Know Math: Unwinding the Story of Plant Spirals
About the Event
Join our speaker Dr. Christophe Golé, Professor of Mathematical Sciences at Smith College to talk about the mathematical patterns in plants. He is a co-author of "Do Plants Know Math?: Unwinding the Story of Plant Spirals, from Leonardo da Vinci to Now" by Stephane Douady, Jacques Dumais, Christophe Golé and Nancy Pick.
Dr. Golé tells us: "Do Plants Know Math?" asks the playful title of the book I co-wrote with physicist Stéphane Douady, biologist Jacques Dumais, and science writer Nancy Pick. The book traces how plant spirals and their mysterious Fibonacci numbers gradually captured scientists' attention, and how only recently have scientists uncovered the biological and (simple?) mathematical mechanisms behind them. We weave our own research adventures into the narrative, emphasizing the human dimension of scientific discovery. In this talk, I'll share excerpts from the book along with illustrations that I hope you'll find beautiful!
This is part of the ongoing series of zoom presentations by the Yolo County Library and Master Gardeners of Yolo County.