View source for Periodic table of shapes

{{Short description|Project to classify Fano varieties}}
The '''periodic table of mathematical shapes''' is popular name given to a project to classify Fano varieties.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mathematicians propose periodic table of shapes - Cosmos Magazine|date=16 February 2011|author=Becky Crew|url=http://cosmosmagazine.com/news/mathematicians-create-periodic-table-shapes/|website=cosmosmagazine.com|accessdate=19 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012213546/http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/mathematicians-create-periodic-table-shapes/|archive-date=12 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> The project was thought up by Professor Alessio Corti, from the Department of Mathematics at Imperial College London. It aims to categorise all three-, four- and five-dimensional shapes into a single table, analogous<!--how?--> to the [[Chemistry:Periodic table|periodic table]] of chemical elements. It is meant to hold the equations that describe each shape and, through this, mathematicians and other scientists expect to develop a better understanding of the shapes’ geometric properties and relations.<ref>{{cite web |author = Parascientifica | title = The Periodic table of shapes |date = 19 Feb 2011 |url = http://www.sw-gm.com/index.php?t=7158}}</ref> 

The project has already won the Philip Leverhulme Prize—worth £70,000—from the Leverhulme Trust, and in 2019 a European Research Council grant.<ref>{{cite web|title=Periodic table of shapes could uncover the structure of the universe - ERC|date=19 Dec 2019|author=European Research Council|url=https://erc.europa.eu/projects-figures/stories/periodic-table-shapes-could-uncover-structure-universe|accessdate=18 Nov 2022}}</ref>
While it is estimated that 500 million shapes can be defined algebraically in four dimensions, they may be decomposable (in the sense of the [[Minimal model program]]) into as few as a few thousand "building blocks".

== See also ==
*[[List of complex and algebraic surfaces]]
*[[List of surfaces]]
*[[Lists of shapes]]
*[[List of mathematical shapes]]
*[[List of two-dimensional geometric shapes]]
*[[Fano variety]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://coates.ma.ic.ac.uk/fanosearch Fano Varieties and Extremal Laurent Polynomials] A collaborative research blog for the project.
* [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110216083123.htm 'Periodic Table of Shapes' to Give a New Dimension to Math]
* [https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20134-atoms-ripple-in-the-periodic-table-of-shapes.html Atoms ripple in the periodic table of shapes]
* [http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2011/mar/01/natures-building-blocks-brought-to-life Nature's building blocks brought to life]
* [https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.00632 Databases of quantum periods for Fano manifolds by Tom Coates and Alexander M. Kasprzyk]
[[Category:Geometric shapes]]



{{Sourceattribution|Periodic table of shapes}}