Packing space with regular tetrahedra

Friday, March 2, 2012 - 16:00 to 16:50
Speaker Information
Jeffrey Lagarias
Professor
University of Michigan

Abstract or Additional Information

The problem of determining the densest packing of space by congruent regular tetrahedra has a long history, starting with Aristotle's assertion that regular tetrahedra fill space, and continuing through its appearance in Hilbert's 18th problem.

This talk describes its history and many recent results obtained on this problem including contributions by physicists, chemists and materials scientists. The current record for packing density is held by my former student Elizabeth Chen, with Michael Engel and Sharon Glotzer.

Research Area