Silvio Levy (USA) and Tamara Munzner (USA) are working at the Geometry Center of the University of Minnesota. Levy has contributed to diverse areas ranging from computer graphics to combinatorial group theory. Levy is editor of the research quarterly, Experimental Mathematics. T. Munzner is one of the authors of Geomview, the Center's public domain interactive 3-D visualization system. She has previously worked at the supercomputer company ETA Systems.

"Outside In" illustrates an amazing mathematical discovery made in 1957: you can turn the surface of a sphere inside out without making a hole, if you think of the surface as being made of an elastic material that can pass through itself. Communicating how this process of eversion can be carried out has been a challenge to differential topologists ever since. The video uses computer animation to illustrate the process and to explain the concepts involved to a non-mathematical audience. In the process, some stunning images are shown. The metaphor we use is that of a material that can stretch and pass through itself, but that self-destructs if punctured or even pinched sharply. Of course, there is no such material in real life! That's where computer graphics comes in. We bring the sphere eversion to a general audience by using nontechnical language and exciting graphics to present a comprehensible, step-by-step exploration which retains mathematical depth. Our ground rules introduce the concept of a "regular homotopy" from topology, which is traditionally not encountered until advanced undergraduate mathematics classes.

Technical Background

HW: Silicon Graphics
SW: Artists' Proprietary, RenderMan, softimage, Mathematica, Geomview, Perl