Admiring a Hungarian invention in Paris: the world’s largest one-piece spherical Gömböc at the Pompidou Centre

The “Gömböc” is on permanent display in one of the world’s most important collections of contemporary art, which is also one of the largest public libraries in France.

The world’s largest “Gömböc” on public display has been exhibited at Centre Pompidou in Paris, presented by one of its inventors, architect Gábor Domokos, Professor at the Department of Morphology and Geometric Modelling and the Department of Mechanics, Materials and Structures at the Faculty of Architecture at BME (BME ÉPK), also head of the MTA-BME Morphodynamics Research Group, and French mathematician Roger Mansuy, BME press release said.

Gömböc

The “Gömböc” was invented by two Hungarian architects: Gábor Domokos, Professor at the Department of Morphology and Geometric Modelling and the Department of Mechanics, Materials and Structures at the Faculty of Architecture at BME (BME ÉPK), also head of the MTA-BME Morphodynamics Research Group, and Péter Várkonyi, Professor at the Department of Mechanics, Materials and Structures at BME ÉPK, who, after more than 10 years of persistent research, identified the shape of the “Gömböc”, thus proving the 1995 conjecture of the Russian mathematician Vladimir Igorevich Arnold, according to which there exists a homogeneous convex body with less than four equilibrium points.

The “Gömböc” is an objectified form of a mathematical model, the only known homogeneous body with only two equilibrium points: one stable and one unstable. When placed on a horizontal surface, it always returns to its stable equilibrium position from any initial position.

Gömböc in Paris

The 2006 Hungarian invention is housed in a walk-around, bottom-lit display case as a permanent exhibit in the middle of one of the largest public libraries in France, an institution hosting one of the world’s most important collections of contemporary art. Sequence number 500 of the individual “Gömböc” refers to the classification of the International Library Catalogue, where this number stands for mathematics and natural sciences.

“It is fantastic when someone manages to prove that the impossible does not exist,” said Georg von Habsburg, Hungarian Ambassador to Paris and Honorary Citizen of BME, in his opening speech, who added it was a great honour to have a Hungarian invention included in the permanent collection of Centre Pompidou. He recalled that research into scientific issues is a priority in Hungary, and one of the proofs of this is that the world has 16 Nobel Prize winners of Hungarian origin.

In France, the first “Gömböc” was exhibited in 2011. The sensational Hungarian invention is on display in a prominent place at Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris, with the sequence number 1928, corresponding to the year in which the mathematical centre hosting the exhibit was founded. There are around a hundred mathematical models on display in the institute’s collection, but previously none of them was a Hungarian invention.

At Centre Pompidou, the largest monolithic model (made from a single piece) of the “Gömböc” ever produced is on display. Its material is clear plexiglass from the USA. The 30 centimetre high, 26.7 centimetre wide and 33.3 centimetre long work of art weighs 25.5 kilograms. The production of this special, high-value model in Hungary was supported by Ottó Albrecht, and the courier service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs helped to deliver it to Paris.

Gábor Domokos admits that he feels like “just a supporting character” in the wide range of uses of the “Gömböc” that started 17 years ago – from arts to the pharmaceutical industry and space exploration – as many others are now using the “Gömböc” and writing articles about it.