The Mosely Snowflake Sponge at the Doheny Memorial Library at USC. Photo by Noe Montes.
During 2012, IFF Director Margaret Wertheim spearheaded a project with software engineer and origami pioneer Dr. Jeannine Mosely to make a giant model of a fractal out of 48,912 business cards. The completed object, known as the Mosely Snowflake Sponge is on display at the Doheny Memorial Library at the University of Southern California, through Friday, February 1st 2013. We encourage you to visit this uniquely fantastic object in its final week of display.
The Mosely Snowflake Sponge – discovered by Dr. Mosely – was constructed from January through August 2012 by more 300 USC students, faculty, library staff and community members. The project is hosted by the USC Libraries and was undertaken as part of the USC Libraries’ first Discovery Fellowship.
On Tuesday January 22, 2013, Margaret’s essay discussing the project appeared in the Science Section of the New York Times.
For more information about Dr. Mosely’s pioneering work on business card origami, see here.
The Mosely Snowflake Sponge: Detail of hexagonal hole highlighting the six-fold symmetry of this elegant fractal.