Diálogos entre Matemáticas y Cultura: Soap bubbles in art, math and architecture

Soap bubbles may seem only children’s games, but actually, they have very clear applications in physics, mathematics and architecture among others. Stemming from art, where, in the sixteenth century they were depicted by many major artists, they have sparked the interest of scientists and mathematicians. In particular the works of Joseph Plateau and the form and laws of soap bubbles and soap films he discovered are the starting points of the modern theory of Minimal Surfaces and the Calculus of Variations.

The advent of computer graphics opened new possibilities for the study of the geometry of

soap bubbles that were completely unthinkable only a few years ago. The presentation

ends with the large exhibition “Soap Bubbles: The Forms and Utopia Between Vanitas, Art

and Science” organized in Perugia, Palazzo dei Priori, March 16/June, 9, 2019, with works

among others of Goltzius, Netscher, Bailly, Chardin, Beckman, Man Ray.