Math & Cultural

On View at MSRI: Photographs of Natural Crystal from the Smale Collection

Public Reception: Wednesday, October 30, 2019 from 5:30-7:30 PM
2nd floor Commons Room at MSRI
17 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720

Featuring live music by guitarist Jack Cutter

Exhibition on view throughout Fall 2019
Visitors are welcome during business hours (Monday-Friday, 8:30-5:00 PM). Artworks are located throughout the 2nd floor of the building.

Free and open to the public

About the Photographer: Stephen Smale, Ph.D.

Acclaimed mathematician Stephen Smale is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, having spent more than 30 years on the mathematics faculty. Professor Smale is known for his research in topology, dynamic systems and mathematical economics. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966. After his retirement from Berkeley he lived in Hong Kong at the City University of HK for 13 years. "Besides my mathematical life, I am a sea captain, having sailed my ketch with 2 crew across the pacific to Fatu Hiva (the island where Thor Heyerdahl spent a year), in 1987."

About the Smale Collection

Stephen Smale and his late wife Clara started collecting natural crystals around 1968. His collection now includes roughly 4000 specimens. The collection was highlighted in the 2006 book The Smale Collection: Beauty in Natural Crystals. The specimens have all remained in the collection except for the Tourmaline, which is now in Barry Kitt's collection.

The photographs included in the exhibit were all taken by Professor Smale with a large format, 8 by 10 inch, Sinar camera in his studio in the 1970s and 1980s. The prints are all Cibachromes except for one, the silver "dye transfer". The last is a now obsolete process for getting museum quality prints.

MSRI EVENT ACCESS AND PARKING
17 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720

Free parking in the MSRI Parking Lot is available beginning at 5:00 p.m. (lot entrance is below MSRI, enter from Centennial Drive above Lawrence Hall of Science parking area). This lot requires walking up the terraced stairs on the hillside to reach MSRI's building. (Learn more)

Paid parking is available in the Space Science Laboratory (SSL) lots via PayByPhone smartphone app, website, or phone (follow instructions on signage). The lot number is 9477. Create your free account using the PayByPhone website or app in advance to make parking upon arrival a breeze! You can complete payment using MSRI's wireless networking inside our building, but please ensure that you have your license plate number available.

A limited number of handicapped spaces are available first-come, first-served at the MSRI building entrance.

UC Berkeley's Hill Shuttle operates from Evans Hall / Mining Circle to the Space Science Laboratory twice per hour. Non-UC Berkeley or MSRI ID holders can ride for $1/trip. The final shuttle of the evening departs MSRI at 7:15 PM. (View shuttle schedule)