Finding Beauty in Math

Many see math as a logic-based activity and art solely as a creative pursuit — a characterization that seemingly puts them at odds. But for Radmila Sazdanović, math and art go hand in hand.

Sazdanović, an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics, studies low-dimensional and algebraic topology. Topology, the study of shapes and their essential features, has applications in engineering, big-data analysis and other areas, and two researchers won the 2016 Nobel Prize in physics for using topology to describe physical properties. It can be used to detect holes in telecommunications network coverage, reduce complexity in computations, and filter meaningless information in big data.

“Math is not only about computation,” Sazdanović says. “I think both math and art are about creativity and finding the beauty and essence of objects you’re interested in.”

Sazdanović’s math-related visualizations and artwork have been displayed in galleries and at conferences around the world, including the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium, San Sebastian Donostia (Spain), the University of Pennsylvania and George Washington University.