http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/science/28math.htmlOne Math Museum, Many Variables
By KENNETH CHANG
New York Times
June 27, 2011
For everyone who finds mathematics incomprehensible, boring, pointless, or all of the above, Glen Whitney wants to prove you wrong.
He believes that tens of thousands of visitors will flock to his Museum of Mathematics, to open in Manhattan next year, and leave invigorated about geometry, numbers and many more mathematical notions.
�We want to expose the breadth and the beauty of mathematics,� said Mr. Whitney, a former math professor who parlayed his quantitative skills into a job at a Long Island hedge fund. He quit in late 2008 with connections to deep pockets and a quest to make math fun and cool.
Two years ago, he and his team built a carnival-like traveling exhibit called the Math Midway, a proof-of-concept for the coming museum. It includes a tricycle with square wheels of different sizes that visitors can ride smoothly around a circular path ridged like a flower�s petals. An accompanying sign explains why: The undulating circular surface rises and falls exactly to offset the odd shape of the wheels, so that the tricycle�s axles � and the rider � remain at the same height as they move.
Mr. Whitney hopes that colorful, interactive props will help his cause. �If we just pluck people in the street � �What adjectives would you use to describe math?� � very few of them would say, �beautiful,� � Mr. Whitney said.
His vision has enticed large contributions. The museum, which will be at 11 East 26th Street, has raised $22 million, including $2 million from Google and a lot from individual donors (yes, there�s some hedge fund money in there).
It remains to be seen whether a math museum can succeed. There are currently zero math museums in the United States, and the one small one that did exist, on Long Island, closed in 2006. There are plenty of science museums that cover math topics, but Mr. Whitney�s museum, nicknamed MoMath, will be devoid of dinosaurs and planetarium shows and will instead focus on the abstract.
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The museum web site is
http://momath.org/ .
