On This Day (1977)

Thirty-four years ago tonight I slipped a diamond ring onto the finger of a nineteen year old girl named Laura Foote. Two days later on Valentine's Day 1977 we made the official announcement, telling Laura's parents first. Her dad thought we were too young (he actually told us we were stupid) but her mom was very happy; she thought it was great.

Laura and I met a year and a half earlier at the Virginia Beach oceanfront when "she was just seventeen" (as in The Beatles song) and I eighteen. A little less than a year after the official announcement, we were married... only a few blocks away from where we first met.

We are still married, we are still in love, and her dad still thinks we were too young.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, …

His name was Leonardo; son of Guilielmo Bonacci. He was born around 1170 in Pisa, Italy and when he published his first book of mathematics he followed the custom of the day and melded his name with the place of his birth. He became Leonardo of Pisa. He later “streamlined” that into the simpler Leonardo Pisano. However, those who knew him as a member of the Bonacci clan took to calling him “filius Bonacci” (Latin for son of Bonacci) and then simply “fi’Bonacci” (a shorter way of saying the same thing). Eventually the name melded with itself; becoming one of the most recognized names in mathematics.

For over 800 years his name has transcended time. It is known not only to mathematicians, but also to those outside the field, and most amazingly, to people residing in totally unrelated walks of life.

Fibonacci… and his famous series of integers: The Fibonacci numbers. They are a series of integers that begin with the number one repeated twice. After that, each number in the series is simply the sum of the two numbers preceding it. The construction of this series is a simple matter. What is astonishing however, is what these numbers bring to the table. They make available a multifaceted mathematical foundation for the natural world around us. Some call these numbers a melding of nature and the truth that is mathematics. Others refer to them as the signature of God.

I accept both as being true.

Fibonacci himself said little though. For all of his many contributions to Mathematics, his most famous, the one that now carries his name, meant very little in his time. It took 600 years for the importance of the Fibonacci numbers to become apparent.

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

~ Carl Sagan

[The Fibonacci numbers are Nature's numbering system. They appear everywhere in Nature, from the leaf arrangement in plants, to the pattern of the florets of a flower, the bracts of a pinecone, or the scales of a pineapple. The Fibonacci numbers are applicable to the growth of every living thing, including a single cell, a grain of wheat, a hive of bees, and even all of mankind ~ Stan Grist]

A Place in the Universe – Through Books

“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called "leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic." — Carl Sagan

During a recent lunch break at work, I was leaning back in my chair with my feet up, reading a book. As I finished my sandwich a co-worker wandered by, and seeing the book in my hand, asked the question that reading in public so often evokes: "What ya' reading?"

In this case it was a book about prime numbers, the zeta function, and the Riemann hypothesis. I am fascinated by the primes… but I will save that subject for another time. I showed the cover of the book to my co-worker. “Cool” was the reply. Yes, very cool. That is the book I keep at work… for reading as I enjoy my PB&J on wheat.

I have no idea who said it: “You are what you read”. Are we truly? Is the old saying a valid hypothesis?

At home I am reading a book that concerns itself with the history of algebra… awesome… hard to put down… it is… really. I am also reading (on and off) a book about the mathematical language of symmetry (i.e. group theory). The former, thus far, is a much better read than the latter, but I am optimistic that the book on symmetry will become better as I get further into it.

I also like books by Brian Greene. There are three of his works in my personal library; two of which are on my nook and one remains unread (for now). I like to read from his books when I forget my place in our universe; when I need to be reminded that while God is incomprehensible and unknowable, God’s manifestations are not.

Not everything I read pertains to mathematics and science. My nook has on it a book written by Thomas Buergenthal, entitled “Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy”. It is painful yet inspiring, eye-opening and humbling. In 1992 I visited Dachau, the concentration camp and the town. My memories of the town have faded. My memories of the camp have not. I spent the better part of a day walking within its unyielding walls and foreboding fences. Even though it has been nearly 20 years since I walked through its huge black-iron gate, the effects of being there still resonate within me.

I do read fiction, now and then, not often, just now and then. When I was reading Ken Follett’s “Pillars of the Earth” and “World Without End”, I could not put them down. After finishing the second book I was left wanting for a third.

And who amongst us has not let their imagination run free and made that special journey through the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and perhaps J.K. Rowling? I have made both journeys multiple times.

In closing, I cannot offer a mathematical proof for the hypothesis; at least not one that will stand up to rigorous scrutiny (or any scrutiny for that matter). But I do think it true. For I have told you who I am through the books that I read. I think we are, everyone of us, defined precisely by what we read.

“All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.” — Carl Sagan