Turning a Sphere Inside Out
Turning a Sphere Inside Out
| 01 January 1979 (USA)
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Turning a Sphere Inside Out Trailers

This video is about the problem of turning a sphere inside out, by passing the surface through itself, without making any holes or creases. Mathematicians believed the problem to be unsolvable until 1958, when Stephen Smale proved otherwise. The motion of turning a sphere inside out, called a regular homotopy, is extremely difficult to visualize. The homotopy in this film was developed by Bernard Morin, a blind mathematician. The motion is illustrated with a sequence of chicken-wire models, built by Charles Pugh, showing the crucial stages in the motion. Commentary is provided by mathematicians Nelson L. Max, Stephen Smale, and Charles Pugh, and by physicist Judith Bregmann.

Reviews
ReaderKenka

Let's be realistic.

Bergorks

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

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Lollivan

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

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Neive Bellamy

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

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