When Peter J. Lu traveled to Uzbekistan, he had no idea of the mathematical journey that he was about to embark on as well. The Harvard graduate student in physics was fascinated by the beautiful and ...

Islamic architects and mathematicians were creating quasi-crystalline patterns some 500 years before similar patterns were described in the West, claim two physicists in the US. Peter J Lu of Harvard ...

Iranian tiles, especially Isfahan tiles and Tabriz tiles, became some of the most important crafts in Iran and were used in churches, mosques, schools, and other buildings. The art of tile making in ...

Zellige tiles are everywhere right now. The term zellige (rhymes with "prestige") refers to tiles that are cut, shaped and glazed by hand, meaning that no two are exactly the same. The subtle yet ...

Patterning and periodic structures are very important in physics. This led to a tremendous amount of work on learning what shapes can tile an area or fill a volume. It was found that these shapes must ...

May 2008Bryce Sanders talks about the ins and outs of starting an Islamic antiques collection When you can afford to collect, anything focusing on artifacts central to your heritage makes sense. There ...