Margaret Wertheim
- January 11, 2024
- Physicist
Quick Facts
Margaret Wertheim Biography
| Birthday | Aug 20 |
| Birth Year | 1958 |
Margaret Wertheim is one of the most popular and richest Physicist who was born on August 20, 1958 in Brisbane, Australia. Physics on the Fringe, Smoke Rings and Circlons and Alternative Theories of Everything is the third. It examines the world of “outsider” physicists like Jim Carter who have little or no scientific training but create their own theories of the universe. Freeman Dyson, who reviewed the book in The New York Review of Books noted that the book describes amateur research, which “offers an alternative set of visions… concrete rather than abstract and physical rather than mathematical.” Jim Carter is the main character. He has an “unshakeable belief” that the universe is made up of endless hierarchies “of circlons”, circular mechanical objects which reproduce and split like smoke rings. Carter didn’t know that his idea that atoms could possibly be explained by subatomic smoke rings was already proposed in 1870s England by William Thomson (later Baron Kelvin) and P.G. Tait. Thomson and Tait’s theory about vortex atoms was called by Helge Kragh, a historian, “a Victorian theory for everything” and is now considered an early form of string theory.
Her work was included in The Best American Science Writing 2003 edited by Oliver Sacks. Best Australian Science Writing (2015/2016 2018 by Newsouth Press); Best Writing on Mathematics (2018) (Princeton University Press).
Inspired by and working with Jeannine Mosely, a software engineer and origami artist, Margaret Wertheim curated a project at the University of Southern California to create a giant model of a fractal, constructed from 48,912 business cards. Professors, librarians, local artists, school students, and hundreds of USC students all participated in over 3,000 hours of work to complete this object. Discovered by Dr. Mosely in 2006, the Mosely Snowflake is a cousin of the famous Menger Sponge, the first three-dimensional fractal known to mathematicians which was first described by Karl Menger in 1926. The Mosely Snowflake Sponge at USC was the first-ever instantiation of this new fractal form, and has since been reproduced by other groups around the world, including in Madagascar. On display at the University of Southern California’s Doheny Memorial Library, the completed Mosely Snowflake Sponge fractal was constructed out of specially designed business cards colored in the Trojans pallet of scarlet and gold, and using several geometric designs taken from the Oliver Byrne version of Euclid’s Elements.
Wertheim has been a research associate at the American Natural Museum of Natural History located in New York, and is a fellow at the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities,. She is currently a PhD candidate and researcher at Deakin University. She was the Discovery Fellow (2012-2013) at the University of Southern California, as well as the Vice Chancellor’s Fellow (2015) at the University of Melbourne.
Wertheim, along with her twin sister Christine (faculty member of the Department of Critical Studies, California Institute of the Arts), founded the Institute For Figuring in Los Angeles. This organisation promotes the poetic, artistic, and scientific dimensions of science and mathematics. The Institute believes that people can interact with scientific and mathematical ideas directly via material construction methods, such as crocheting and paper folding, and not just via abstract equations or formulas. IFF is a non-profit organization that the sisters use to produce their Crochet Coral Reef Project. This project was created by the sisters as an artistic response and response to climate change, which also saw the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef. This project also addresses the issue of oceanic plastic waste. The Crochet Coral Reef engages audiences all over the globe with environmental issues. It also serves as a way to teach non-Euclidean geometries. The Crochet Reef’s frilly, curling forms are hyperbolic surfaces. These are the same shapes made by living coral reef organisms. Daina Taimina from Cornell University, a mathematician, discovered how to crochet such forms in 1997.
Margaret Wertheim Net Worth
| Net Worth | $5 Million |
| Source Of Income | Physicist |
| House | Living in own house. |
Margaret Wertheim is one of the richest Physicist from Australia. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Margaret Wertheim 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)
Margaret Wertheim, a science writer, curator and artist from Australia, was born 20 August 1958. She is based in the United States. She is the author and curator of books about the cultural history and physics. She has also written about science for several publications, including the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, Guardian and Aeon. Wertheim and Christine Wertheim, her twin sister, co-founded the Institute For Figuring, a Los Angeles-based non profit organization that creates projects at the intersections of science, art, and mathematics. Their IFF projects include Crochet Coral Reef. It was shown at the 2019 Venice Biennale and Hayward Gallery (London), Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, and Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Wertheim was awarded the Klopsteg Memorial award from the American Association of Physics Teachers (2016) and the Scientia Medal Australia (2017) for her efforts in public science engagement.
Wertheim has written 10 TV documentaries and created and directed the award- winning series Catalyst. This six-part series focuses on science and technology for teens. She has directed several short films and wrote and directed What About AIDS (1988), a Canadian program on public health that used laser-disc technology. Wertheim gives lectures all over the world to promote science in a context of social justice.
Since its beginning in 2005,Crochet Coral Reef has expanded into a constellation of individual reefs including a Bleached Reef, a Toxic Reef made of video-tape and plastic, a Branched Anemone Garden, and a giant Coral Forest – consisting of six large-scale sculptures, three crocheted from yarn and three from plastic. The plastic works are inspired by the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a gigantic gyre of plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean.
Height, Weight & Body Measurements
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Who is Margaret Wertheim Dating?
According to our records, Margaret Wertheim is possibily single & has not been previously engaged. As of December 1, 2023, Margaret Wertheim’s is not dating anyone.
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Facts & Trivia
Margaret Ranked on the list of most popular Physicist. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in Australia. Margaret Wertheim celebrates birthday on August 20 of every year.
Why did Wertheim decide to crochet a coral reef?
Started in 2007, the Wertheims’ reef grew out of the Australian sisters’ many interests: their passion for math and science; shared fondness for crochet ; love of their country’s Great Barrier Reef and desire to highlight global warming’s impact on coral reefs and oceans in general.
Why was crocheting an appropriate medium for the coral reef project?
As it turns out, crochet is a perfect medium for creating rippled, ruffled edges seen in corals. People are invited to contribute to the Crochet Coral Reef project through workshops. At the workshops, participants crochet corals, adding their creations to the touring art instillation.
How do you crochet hyperbolic corals?
To crochet a hyperbolic structure you simply increase stitches at a regular rate in every row. The more often you increase, the more quickly the model will ruffle up. In this model you do hyperbolic crochet round a circle. stitches, you need to turn the line into a circle.