St Mary Coslany
Saint Marys Plain, Heigham Grove, Norwich, NR3 3AF on the Edible East Art/Science Trail
Showing the work of statistician: George Savva Instagram
This exhibit has now closed - but the artwork will be displayed at 2 Cornwall Place.
All the People on Earth
Norwich Research Park Inspiring Science: George Savva is a statistician at the Quadram Institute on Norwich Research Park. He also makes mathematical art, to share the elegance of maths and to inspire others to explore further.
This flower-like image is made from 7.9 billion points; one point for every person on Earth. The points are too small to see individually, but together form a delicate pattern.
The pattern is created using chaos theory. It is not designed, but comes from a simple rule describing how the position of each point follows from the last. Chaos theory can also describe natural processes in biology and in weather systems that govern our food production. Like many things in nature, when you look at it closely this pattern seems random, but when seen as a whole the structure is clear. Circular designs are used in many cultures to represent a whole, and to help us reflect. Feeding our population is a global challenge, but together the solutions will emerge.
More about St Mary Coslany at the Norfolk Churches website.