# Geometry Center

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For centers of geometrical objects, see [Centre (geometry)](/source/Centre_(geometry)).

**The Geometry Center** was a [mathematics](/source/Mathematics) research and education center at the [University of Minnesota](/source/University_of_Minnesota). It was established by the [National Science Foundation](/source/National_Science_Foundation) in the late 1980s and closed in 1998. The focus of the center's work was the use of [computer graphics](/source/Computer_graphics) and [visualization](/source/Visualization_(computer_graphics)) for research and education in [pure mathematics](/source/Pure_mathematics) and [geometry](/source/Geometry).[1]

The center's founding director was [Al Marden](/source/Albert_Marden). Richard McGehee directed the center during its final years. The center's governing board was chaired by [David P. Dobkin](/source/David_P._Dobkin).[1]

## Geomview

Much of the work done at the center was for the development of **Geomview**, a three-dimensional [interactive geometry program](/source/Interactive_geometry_software). This focused on mathematical visualization with options to allow [hyperbolic space](/source/Hyperbolic_space) to be visualised. It was originally written for [Silicon Graphics](/source/Silicon_Graphics) workstations, and has been ported to run on [Linux](/source/Linux) systems; it is available for installation in most Linux distributions through the package management system. *Geomview* can run under [Windows](/source/Microsoft_Windows) using [Cygwin](/source/Cygwin) and under [Mac OS X](/source/Mac_OS_X).

Geomview is built on the Object Oriented Graphics Library (OOGL). The displayed scene and the attributes of the objects in it may be manipulated by the graphical command language (GCL) of Geomview. Geomview may be set as a default 3-D viewer for [Mathematica](/source/Mathematica).[2]

## Videos

*Geomview* was used in the construction of mathematical movies including:

- *[Not Knot](/source/Not_Knot)*, exploring hyperbolic space rendering of [knot](/source/Knot_theory) complements.
- *Outside In*, a movie about [sphere eversion](/source/Sphere_eversion) based on [William Thurston](/source/William_Thurston)'s method.[3]
- *The Shape of Space*, exploring possible three-dimensional spaces.

## Other software

Other notable software developed at the Center included:

- *[Surface Evolver](/source/Surface_Evolver)*, to explore [minimal surfaces](/source/Minimal_surface).
- *[SnapPea](/source/SnapPea)*, a [hyperbolic 3-manifold](/source/Hyperbolic_3-manifold) analyzer.

## Website

Richard McGehee, the center's director, has stated that the website was one of the first one hundred websites ever published.[4] That website is available as an archive.[5]

## References

1. [""Post-mortem on the Geometry Center" *Math in the Media* (AMS)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080325063502/http://www.ams.org/mathmedia/archive/09-2002-media.html#geomcenter). Archived from [the original](https://www.ams.org/mathmedia/archive/09-2002-media.html#geomcenter) on 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2021-04-28.

1. ["Geomview](http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/1115?page=0,1&quicktabs_1=0), *[Linux Journal](/source/Linux_Journal)*, March 1, 1996

1. Mackenzie, Dana (July 31, 1998). "Sphere Does Elegant Gymnastics in New Video". *Science*. **281** (5377): 634–635. [doi:10.1126/science.281.5377.634](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.281.5377.634)

1. *Mervis, Jeffrey (26 July 2002), ["The Geometry Center, 1991-1998. RIP."](http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/297/5581/508), *Science*. Vol. 297, no. 5581, p. 508, [doi:10.1126/science.297.5581.508](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.297.5581.508). [PMID 12142514](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12142514). [S2CID 176839308](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:176839308), retrieved January 5, 2008

1. [Geometry Center website](http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Geometry Center](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometry_Center) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometry_Center?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.