In perfect balance – The Gömböc G 1854, a new item in our collection
There is a new highlight in the Collection of Scientific Instruments and Teaching Aids: the custom-made Gömböc G 1854. The gift is a tangible piece of 20 years of scientific history.
The Gömböc is the world’s first convex, three-dimensional, homogeneous body that has exactly one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium. The Russian mathematician Wladimir Igorewitsch Arnold conjectured as early as the 1990s that such an object should exist, but it was not until 2006 that Gábor Domokos and Péter Várkonyi actually discovered and named it.
The body at balance
Just like a tilting doll, the Gömböc always rolls back into its original position. Unlike a tilting doll, however, there are no weights on the inside. That is what makes the Gömböc special.
How the Gömböc found its way into our collection
ETH Zurich and Professor Gábor Domokos first discussed a potential gift several years ago. Back then, no suitable place of storage could be found, and the two parties soon stopped negotiations. We are all the more pleased that Gábor Domokos recently got in touch with the Collection of Scientific Instruments and Teaching Aids to pick up said negotiations where they were left off. The Gömböc G 1854 is a gift from Mr Ottó Albrecht, and we are extremely grateful to him.
In memoriam 1854
The number 1854 was not chosen at random. It is a reminder of the founding year of ETH Zurich. On 7 February 1854, the Swiss Federal Council passed a bill for the establishment of a Federal Polytechnic Institute. University-owned Gömböcs always have a reference to the institution’s founding year in their model name.
About the Collection of Scientific Instruments and Teaching Aids
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