JESUITS •
ill
MODERN
SCIENCE=
a humanistic perspective
PRESENTED BY THE
HUMANITIES INST ITUTE
FAIRFIELD UN I VERSITY
Dr. Banchoff through
N dimensions .
• HIIITLA.Ytl
0 CD
Thomas Banchoff, PhD. Mathematics:
Pro/uJor of Mathematicd at Brown Univerdity
Tbe Fourth DinuMion
Welcome to the fourth dimension under the direction of Dr.
Thomas Banchoff, one of the world's most prominent scholars
studying this phenomenon. A pioneer in applying computer
graphics to illustrate thisillusiveandabstractconcept, Dr. Banchoff
has attracted widespread interest, not only from the mathematics
community but among philosophers, artists and scientists.
The fourth dimension has been a favorite device of science
fiction writers who delight in blasting enemies into hyperspace and
in fact Dr. Banchofrs career has its roots in a Captain Marvel
comic book that he read as a junior in high school. He went on to
be fascinated by Edwin A. Abbott's" Flatland, H a satire on in tolerance
published in 1884 which portrays two-dimensional characters
struggling with the concept of three dimensions. Dr. Banchoff
challenges us to do the same: to look beyond the comfortable 3-D
world we know so well and try to imagine another dimension.
The fourth dimension has intrigued people since the 16th
century and the renowned Jesuit scientists: Roger Boscovich, a
physicist who developed the first coherent description of atomic
theory; and Christopher Clavius, a mathematician who has been
called the most influential teacher of the Renaissance. Dr. Banchoff
has been a member of the Jesuit Clavius mathematical research
group for eighteen years and he intends to use the work of
Boscovich as an illustration of moving higher dimensions through
geometrical visualizations.
Using computers at Brown University where he is professor
of mathematics, Dr. Banchoffhas developed extraordinary fUms of
surfaces in the third as well as fourth dimensions. Scientists are
already finding practical applications for 4-0 in trying to present
an understandable explanation of the universe being fmite,
unbounded and curving back on itself.
While the mathematical concepts that he works with are
indeed intricate, his presentations are clear and of great interest to
the non-mathematician. A world conference on 4-D, held six years
ago at Brown University, attracted 700 philosophers, artists and
scientists. We are fortunate to be able to present Dr. Banchoff as
the lead-off speaker in our series, "Jesuits in Modem Science: a
Humanistic Perspective."
LECTURES
T u.uday, 9 October 3:00p.m.
Thomas Banchoff, Ph.D.,
Mathematics
Professor of Mathematics
at Brown University
"The Fourth Dimension"
Wednuday, 14 No11ember 3:00p.m.
Martin McCarthy, S.J., Ph.D.,
Astronomy
Associate Director of Vatican Observatory
"The Vatican Observatory from
Galileo to Hubble"
Monday, 10 December 3:00p.m.
Timothy Toohig, S.J., Ph.D.,
Physics
Deputy Head of the Conventional
Construction Division, S.S.C.
"Recreating the Big Bang:
the Physics of the Superconducting
Super Collider"
Wednuday,30 January 3:00p.m.
James Skehan, S.J., Ph.D.,
Geology Director of the Weston
Seismological Observatory
"Jesuits and Geoscience"
Wednuday, 20 February 3:00p.m.
James Salmon, S.J., Ph.D.,
Chemistry
Consultant to the National Conference
of Catholic Bishops
"Science and Human Values"
