Soap films and soap bubbles: From Plateau to the olympic swimming pool in Beijing

Abstract

It is very interesting to study the parallel story of soap bubbles and soap films in art and science. Noting that mathematicians in particular have been intrigued by their complex geometry, the author traces a short story of research in this area from the first experiments by Plateau in the late nineteenth century to more recent works. Looking for the connections with art and architecture, with a special look to the Olympic swimming stadium in Beijing built in 2008 © Springer-Verlag Italia, Milano 2009.