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Edmund Orme Harriss (born 1976 in Worcester, UK) is a British mathematician,[1] writer[2] and artist.[3] Since 2010 he has been at the Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences at The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas where he is an Assistant Professor of Arts & Sciences (ARSC) and Mathematical Sciences (MASC). He does research in the Geometry of Tilings and Patterns,[4] a branch of Convex and Discrete Geometry.[5] He is the discoverer of the spiral that bears his name.[6]
Harriss earned a Master of Mathematics at the University of Warwick (2000) and then obtained his PhD at Imperial College London (2003) with the dissertation "On Canonical Substitution Tilings" under Jeroen Lamb.[7]
Harriss has been a speaker at FSCONS, a Nordic Free software conference.[8]
Harriss is active on Numberphile where he has given talks on Heesch numbers, Tribonacci numbers, the Rauzy fractal and the plastic ratio.[9]
In May and June 2020 Harriss was a visiting fellow at The Institute for Advanced Study of Aix-Marseille University (IMéRA) where he studied the possibilities of visual and spatial models and animations to illustrate a wide variety of mathematical ideas.[10]
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The Gauss–Bonnet theorem gives the relationship between the curvature of a surface and the amount of turning as you traverse the surface’s boundary.[12] Harriss used this theorem to invent shapes called Curvahedra which were then incorporated into sculpture.[13] Scientists at MIT are investigating ways in which curvahedra may have applications in construction.[14]
Art and mathematics are intertwined in Harris's work.[4] He uses public art to demonstrate deep mathematical ideas[14] and his academic work frequently involves the visualization of mathematics.[15] Mathematically themed sculptures by Harriss have been installed at Oklahoma State University,[16] at the University of Arkansas,[17][18] and at Imperial College London.[4]
Combining his interest in art and mathematical tilings he is one of 24 mathematicians and artists who make up the Mathemalchemy Team.[19][20]
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Harriss noticed that the golden ratio is just one example of a more general idea: In how many ways can a rectangle be divided into squares and rectangles? The golden ratio results when a rectangle is divided into a one square and one similar rectangle. But by varying the number of squares and sub-rectangles, we arrive at what Harriss calls "proportion systems". The solutions in all cases are algebraic numbers and the golden ratio is just one of them.[21]
- "The golden ratio is this incredibly well-explored corner of a whole city,” he said. “I wanted to give signposts to other locations in that city."[6]
Harriss investigated the next simplest case, dividing a rectangle into one square and two similar rectangles. The ratio that emerged in this case is the so-called plastic ratio.[22] The golden spiral is closely related to the first case, dissection into one square and one similar rectangle. Harriss applied the same idea to this second case and discovered a new fractal spiral related to the plastic ratio and since named after him.[6]
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Books
Harriss has published several books designed to spread joy in mathematics.[23] The sales of his colouring books run well beyond 100,000.[2][24]
- (2015) Snowflake Seashell Star: Colouring Adventures in Numberland with Alex Bellos ISBN 1782117881[25]
- (2016) Patterns of the Universe: A Coloring Adventure in Math and Beauty, with Alex Bellos ISBN 9781615193233[26]
- (2016) Visions of the Universe: A Coloring Journey Through Math's Great Mysteries, with Alex Bellos ISBN 9781615193677
- (2020) Hello Numbers! What Can You Do? 'An Adventure Beyond Counting, with Houston Hughes, Illustrated by Brian Rea ISBN 9781615196845
Papers
- (2011) "From oranges to modems" in "The unplanned impact of mathematics", Nature, vol 475, pp. 166–169
- (2011) "Algebraic numbers, free group automorphisms and substitutions on the plane" with Pierre Arnoux, Maki Furukado and Shunji Ito, Transactions of the American Mathematical Society 363 (2011), pp. 4651-4699
- (2015) "Strain and the optoelectronic properties of nonplanar phosphorene monolayers" with Mehrshad Mehboudi et al, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- (2020) "Algebraic Number Starscapes" with Katherine E. Stange and Steve Trettel
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