Turning a Sphere Inside Out
“Unfolding the impossible: turning a sphere inside out, without a single crease.”
This video is about the problem of turning a sphere inside out, by passing the surface through itself, without making any holes or creases. Mathematicians believed the problem to be unsolvable until 1958, when Stephen Smale proved otherwise. The motion of turning a sphere inside out, called a regular homotopy, is extremely difficult to visualize. The homotopy in this film was developed by Bernard Morin, a blind mathematician. The motion is illustrated with a sequence of chicken-wire models, built by Charles Pugh, showing the crucial stages in the motion. Commentary is provided by mathematicians Nelson L. Max, Stephen Smale, and Charles Pugh, and by physicist Judith Bregmann.
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Cast
4 people
Nelson Max Director
First release January 1, 1979 · Produced in United States · Production Case Western Reserve University, Education Development Center (E/D/C)
Production
The Topology Films Project
Production
Case Western Reserve University
Production
Education Development Center (E/D/C)
Production
International Film Bureau
Production
United States
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Languages
Original language
English
Spoken on screen
English
Release dates
Australia · January 1, 1979
Physical
No release date listed for United States.
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