Springer Mathematics and Culture in Europe: Mathematics in Art, Technology, Cinema, and Theatre

Predicated on the notion that mathematics has been a growing source of aesthetic inspiration in culture, this volume celebrates where the two intermesh. It is a meditation on the performances and cultural events, all mathematics-related, performed in Bologna in 2004, is dedicated to all those who are curious about mathematics, but also more generally about theatre, cinema, literature, arts and science. Thanks to the DVD, one can readers can relive various events through the voices and the images of the participants. Review From the reviews:“Volume contains the proceedings of the eponymous conference Mathematics and Culture in Europe held in Bologna … . content of the DVD is elegantly presented and easy to navigate, and it works both for PCs and Macs, which is a big plus. … having collected in a single volume descriptions, explanations, and references … on several recent and not-so-recent movies and plays about mathematics and mathematicians is definitely helpful, and would justify buying this book to anybody interested in the relationships between mathematics and art.” (Marco Abate, The Mathematical Intelligencer, Vol. 31 (4), December, 2009) From the Back Cover It is not true that mathematics has never been able to arouse people's interest. At least, this is our feeling as mathematicians when we meet the general public to explain what we are dealing with in our work, what is the usefulness of mathematics and how it becomes possible to catch its harmony and beauty. In the past years, also the cinema changed its attitude on the matter, and some screenplays started to show mathematicians engaged in their work, not only teachers!, while some recent theatrical pieces have a mathematician as a main character, and people like it. These considerations stimulated some of us to organize, for the first time in Italy, in Bologna, the review Mathematics and Theatre, which offered to a general audience the opportunity to attend agreeable performances and, at the same time, to hear something about the prime numbers, the theory of Galois, or simply about the relationship between science, mathematics and power at Napoleon's times. This volume, which has its origin in the activities performed in Bologna in 2004, within the framework of the European project Mathematics in Europe, is dedicated to all those who are curious about mathematics, but also more generally about theatre, cinema, literature, arts and science. Thanks to the DVD enclosed with the volume, edited by Marco Di Girolami, Elisa Lauretani and Camilla Valentini, one can relive various events through the voices and the images of the participants. About the Author Mirella Manaresi is professor of geometry at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Bologna. Her main research field is algebraic geometry, but, since some years, she is also involved in activities to promote the interest for mathematics of the general public. She was editor, with M. Emmer, of the volume Mathematics, art, technology, cinema (Springer Italia, 2002 and Springer 2003, respectively in the Italian and in the extended English edition), and between 2002 and 2005 she has been responsible for a European project, from which this volume takes origin.