Phyllotaxis, pushed pattern fronts and optimal packing
Speaker: Alan Newell, University of Arizona, USA
Time: 2.00PM
Date: Wednesday 23rd April 2014
Location: Seminar Room (G24), Ground Floor, NexusUCD, University College Dublin. Blocks 9 & 10, Belfield Office Park
Abstract:
Phyllotaxis, the arrangements of phylla (leaves, flowers, seeds, bracts) on plants has mystified and intrigued natural scientists for millenia. Indeed it was over four hundred years ago that Kepler first noted that phylla often lay on families of spirals and that the numbers in these families were enumerated by Fibonacci sequences. It is only recently, amazing when you think about all the great names who worked on it, that real progress has been made. I will describe for you what the progress has been and show you some fascinating new results which suggest that nature may use pattern forming systems to pursue and achieve optimal strategies.
Series: Applied and Computational Mathematics Seminar Series
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