ENGR 210H History and Hidden Principles of Geometry in Art and Applied Science
This course addresses the Enduring Question, `What is beauty, goodness, and truth?' We will survey how outstanding artists, architects, and scientists across history achieved astonishing beauty through simplicity. Basic rules led to intricate creations to solve practical problems. We will uncover patterns the layout of Stonehenge, pyramids, Plato's Elements, the Golden Ratio, classic proportions of Roman and Greek temples, illuminated manuscripts, Gothic cathedrals, tilings perspective in paintings, Leonardo da Vinci's genius in arts and mechanics, Copernicus' and Kepler's models of the cosmos, Renaissance fortresses and public architecture, and traditional decorative and building crafts. They are immediately accessible by their drawings with paper, pen, and compass.
Rome is the cradle of Western civilization (in figurative and literal sense -- civitas being the community) and a continued source of enormous inspiration across all aspects of art, culture, and democracy, not least for the American republic and its built edifices such as the government buildings and monuments around the National Mall in Washington, DC. We will reveal the hidden thread that underlies a veritable cornucopia of applications -- geometry. We will trace its many beneficial uses in arts and crafts over multiple millennia. We will become familiar with selected graphical methods and gain an appreciation for their continued importance. Weekly exercises and assignments will deepen the topics from each historical period and application. The final project will select an application and investigate it in a scholarly essay. A field trip to the Pantheon -- which has inspired many buildings, including the rotunda at University of Virginia -- will illustrate one of the most geometrically perfect buildings that for over a millennium was the largest dome on Earth. This course does not require technical or drawing skills and is open to all university students.
Cross Listed Courses
ENGR 210 &
ENGR 210H &
ART 210 &
ART 210H &
ANTH 210 &
ANTH 210H
Prerequisite
Open only to students in the University Honors Program