Math and Nature Inspired This Artist’s Mesmerizing Spiral Sculptures

You don’t need to be a math expert to appreciate John Edmark’s “Blooms.” When photographed with a short shutter speed or under a strobe light, the rotating sculptures take on an otherworldly energy. But knowing the numbers behind Edmark’s designs makes them even more impressive.

Edmark, an artist and professor at Stanford University, uses the Golden Angle when sculpting his spirals. The Golden Angle is derived from the Golden Ratio, which (as Edmark describes it) is when “the smaller is to the larger, as the larger is to the whole.” In a circle, that angle comes out to roughly 137.5°. This number appears all over the place in nature, from the spiraling sequence of leaves in succulents to the arrangement of seeds in sunflowers.

John Edmark recreates this perfect pattern in his studio. To see how his does it, check out the video from SciFri below.

[h/t Sploid]