Edmund Harriss

Harriss earned a Master of Mathematics at the University of Warwick (2000) and then obtained his PhD at Imperial College London (2003) with the dissertation "On Canonical Substitution Tilings" under Jeroen Lamb.[7]

Harriss has been a speaker at FSCONS, a Nordic Free software conference.[8]

Harriss is active on Numberphile where he has given talks on Heesch numbers, Tribonacci numbers, the Rauzy fractal and the plastic ratio.[9]

In May and June 2020 Harriss was a visiting fellow at The Institute for Advanced Study of Aix-Marseille University (IMéRA) where he studied the possibilities of visual and spatial models and animations to illustrate a wide variety of mathematical ideas.[10]

Sculpture made from flat materials using the curvahedra invented by Harris[11]

The Gauss–Bonnet theorem gives the relationship between the curvature of a surface and the amount of turning as you traverse the surface’s boundary.[12] Harriss used this theorem to invent shapes called Curvahedra which were then incorporated into sculpture.[13] Scientists at MIT are investigating ways in which curvahedra may have applications in construction.[14]

Art and mathematics are intertwined in Harris's work.[4] He uses public art to demonstrate deep mathematical ideas[14] and his academic work frequently involves the visualization of mathematics.[15] Mathematically themed sculptures by Harriss have been installed at Oklahoma State University,[16] at the University of Arkansas,[17][18] and at Imperial College London.[4]

Combining his interest in art and mathematical tilings he is one of 24 mathematicians and artists who make up the Mathemalchemy Team.[19][20]

The Harriss Spiral

Harriss noticed that the golden ratio is just one example of a more general idea: In how many ways can a rectangle be divided into squares and rectangles? The golden ratio results when a rectangle is divided into a one square and one similar rectangle. But by varying the number of squares and sub-rectangles, we arrive at what Harriss calls "proportion systems". The solutions in all cases are algebraic numbers and the golden ratio is just one of them.[21]

"The golden ratio is this incredibly well-explored corner of a whole city,” he said. “I wanted to give signposts to other locations in that city."[6]

Harriss investigated the next simplest case, dividing a rectangle into one square and two similar rectangles. The ratio that emerged in this case is the so-called plastic number.[22] The golden spiral is closely related to the first case, dissection into one square and one similar rectangle. Harriss applied the same idea to this second case and discovered a new fractal spiral related to the plastic number and since named after him.[6]

• Edmund O. Harriss website