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Athelstan Spilhaus: Ideas, Ideas, Ideas
| Article
# : |
10090 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1986 |
4,416 Words |
| Author
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Cheryl M. Wetzstein
Cheryl M. Wetzstein is an award winning free-lance writer who
lives in Vienna, Virginia. |
"Now here's a little invention I don't quite know what to do with," mused Dr. Athelstan Spilhaus as he sat in an easy chair in his Middleberg, Virginia, home. This latest gadget, like scores of other inventions this creative 74 year old has come up with over five decades, embodies both mathematics and whimsy. "It's a curious little thing," Dr. Spilhaus said, turning it on. Instantly, a contraption shaped like a top began twirling along two wires. "It's based on mathematical topology," he explained. "See, the red side is up and it's running underneath the wires. Now the gold side is up and it's running on top of the wires. It's actually one single strand of wire following the edges of what they call in mathematics a Mobius strip. It [the toy] has no particular name; I call it the 'Mobius Trip'.
The friendly scientist watched it for a minute, contemplating its potential. "It's an interesting little toy--I'd like to make a hand-held one for children", he said. "Or, it could be used like a hypnotic device in a dentist's office. Or", he added, chuckling, "it could be a toy for executives who go around in circles, frantically doing nothing, getting nowhere".
Athelstan Spilhaus, oceanographer, meteorologist, creator of the bathythermograph, cartographer, sculptor, and author of books, monographs, and a comic strip, has devised hundreds of "things" in his lifetime, some fifty of which have been patented.
Some patents--like the ice skates for the tropics--have been mostly a lark. "I worried about these poor little kids in the tropics who couldn't skate on ice", he said, settling back in his chair on this snowy afternoon. "I pondered why, and, of
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