The Penn State Department of Mathematics will hold an open house of its extensively renovated McAllister Building, featuring a dedication ceremony for a unique sculpture with deep mathematical significance on Oct. 21 on the Unversity Park campus. The event will begin at 3:30 p.m. with a ceremony to dedicate the "Octacube" sculpture in the first-floor atrium of McAllister Building, followed by an opportunity for participants to explore the renovated building until 5 p.m. In addition to the events on Oct. 21, the mathematics department will hold a mathematical talk at 4 p.m. Oct. 20 and a talk for the general public at 6 p.m. Oct. 26. All three events will take place in the atrium near the sculpture, will feature four-dimensional movies and will be free to the public.
The sculpture is a gift from Jill Grashof Anderson, a mathematics alumna of Penn State, as a memorial for her husband, Kermit C. Anderson, also a Penn State mathematics graduate, who was killed in the terrorist attack Sept. 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center in New York City. The dedication ceremony for the sculpture will include an explanation of its mathematical meaning by its designer, Adrian Ocneanu, professor of mathematics. The stainless-steel Octacube is a striking object of visual art and also a mental portal to the fourth dimension, a teaching tool and a research object bringing together many branches of mathematics and physics connected to the structure of symmetry.
The sculpture, which measures about 6 feet in every direction, presents the three-dimensional "shadow" of a four-dimensional solid object. "Although mathematicians can work with a fourth dimension abstractly by adding a fourth coordinate to the three that we use to describe a point in space, a fourth spatial dimension is difficult to visualize," Ocneanu explained. "The sculpture was designed with a new method that captures four dimensional symmetry better than anything done before."
The Octacube was produced by the staff of the Engineering Services Shop, managed by Jerry Anderson. "It is rare that we get a chance to produce something so extraordinary for people to enjoy," Anderson said. "The Octacube demonstrates the high level of skill and craftsmanship of the Penn State people who transformed it from a design to an object, including Janet Page, James Kustenborder, Ronald Weaver, Brian Bennett, Dennis Praskovich, Thomas Coakley, Thomas Rimmey and Lee Brooks."
Jill Grashof Anderson said she hopes the sculpture will encourage students, faculty, administrators, alumnae and friends to ponder and appreciate the world of mathematics. "I also hope that all who view the sculpture will begin to grasp the sobering fact that everyone is vulnerable to something terrible happening to them and that we all must learn to live one day at a time, making the very best of what has been given to us. She added, "It would be great if everyone who views the Octacube walks away with the feeling that being kind to others is a good way to live."