On the other hand, here is an inspiring story of an amateur mathematician woman (neither a freak nor an unrecognized genius, but a discoverer of new objects):
Martin Gardner discussed the problem in a July 1975 Mathematical Games column, "On Tessellating the Plane with Convex Polygon Tiles." Gardner’s account led to the discovery by Richard James III of an additional pentagonal tiling.
Majorie Rice, a homemaker in San Diego, regularly read her son's copies of Scientific American and took particular note of Gardner's original article and its December follow-up describing James's discovery. Inspired by the articles, Rice began her own search for additional pentagonal tilings. She developed a unique notation and procedure for systematically investigating the possibilities and eventually discovered four additional types and more than 60 distinct tessellations by pentagons.
Rice was also interested in art and used her novel pentagonal tilings as the basis of beautiful geometric designs and Escher-like patterns.
Rice's efforts raised the total to 13 distinct classes of convex pentagons that can be used to tile the plane. Rolf Stein discovered a fourteenth in 1985. However, no one has yet proved that the list is complete.
Rice continued exploring tessellations and subsequently came up with the pentagonal variant that became the basic unit of the unique floor pattern displayed in the lobby at MAA headquarters.
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Date: 2018-05-14 06:31 pm (UTC)https://www.facebook.com/posic/posts/2155909881090501?comment_id=2155974471084042
Martin Gardner discussed the problem in a July 1975 Mathematical Games column, "On Tessellating the Plane with Convex Polygon Tiles." Gardner’s account led to the discovery by Richard James III of an additional pentagonal tiling.
Majorie Rice, a homemaker in San Diego, regularly read her son's copies of Scientific American and took particular note of Gardner's original article and its December follow-up describing James's discovery. Inspired by the articles, Rice began her own search for additional pentagonal tilings. She developed a unique notation and procedure for systematically investigating the possibilities and eventually discovered four additional types and more than 60 distinct tessellations by pentagons.
Rice was also interested in art and used her novel pentagonal tilings as the basis of beautiful geometric designs and Escher-like patterns.
Rice's efforts raised the total to 13 distinct classes of convex pentagons that can be used to tile the plane. Rolf Stein discovered a fourteenth in 1985. However, no one has yet proved that the list is complete.
Rice continued exploring tessellations and subsequently came up with the pentagonal variant that became the basic unit of the unique floor pattern displayed in the lobby at MAA headquarters.