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Land of Knots
13/12/2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PST
Free
Land of Knots (under development) is an interactive space to explore knots and tangles and their applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry and even the movements of dancers and robots. Knot theory is also an exciting branch of modern mathematics. As my colleague Greg Buck wrote:
It’s often said that Mathematics is the science of patterns. Of all patterns, knots are among the most robust, the most universal. For this reason their scientific applications are so widespread. In addition, knots find themselves as universal forms of cultural and artistic expression. Knot tying is one of humanity’s oldest technologies. We will follow the common thread tying these subjects to one another, interleaving the cultural and scientific ways of knowing.
Land of Knots will contain interactive demos illustrating the basics of knot theory but also various applications, especially to DNA knotting / tangling, Celtic knotting, knots in dynamical systems (Lorenz attractor). Visitors will be able to download knot models from a web server, create random knots from scratch and to relax and modify this to new forms. Much of the scripting will be using the Lua programming language.
By Rob Scharein, Ph.D.