Kent professor Dr Cyril Isenberg cleans up with soap suds theory
A professor from Kent is hoping to clean up...
by using soap to solve mathematical problems.
Dr Cyril Isenberg, from the University of Kent, came up with the
idea which works out distance and area equations using the
properties made from soap bubbles.
Now his idea - which involves a wire cube dipped into a soap
solution to explain it - has been dubbed one of the best articles
of the last 100 years by American Scientist magazine.
The work, titled 'The soap film: an analogue computer', was
first published in 1976.
But it got scientists into a lather, and is now considered a
game-changing piece of work.
Dr Isenberg, now an honorary lecturer at the University of
Kent's school of engineering and digital arts, still soft
soaps students with talks linking the beauty and art of bubbles
with their science.
Dr Isenberg said: “Mathematicians have been trying to work out
area problems for years.
“By using the soap film you can provide an analogue solution… and
it gives them a guide of trying to find an analytic solution to
"It’s a subject where everybody can do the demonstrations and see
for themselves the interesting properties."
Professor Mark Burchell, Dean of Kent’s Faculty of Sciences, said
he’s delighted Dr Isenberg’s article has been recognised in the
He said: “For many years he has given his highly popular talks
linking beauty and art of bubbles with the equally beautiful
science that explains them.”
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