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Nanyang Technological Universityand Coursera are proud to offer Beauty, Form & Function: An Exploration ofSymmetry that caters to both non-specialists via a non-academic credit on-demand version (https://www.coursera.org/learn/symmetry) and specialists through this academic credit fixed-session version. Below can be found the:
Syllabus • Grading Scheme • Recommended Readings •Required Background • Essential Resources • Student Responsibility • FAQs
Symmetry is everywhere. In thegrand scheme of things it is the blueprint by which the universe operates. Wesee symmetry in nature, art, architecture, science and engineering. This courseexplores the Beauty, Form and Function of Symmetry in common objects, thenprogresses to investigate tiling and tessellation, gems and crystals, andfinally its indispensable role in technology. Symmetry and asymmetry are also key factors that ensure the successfulreproduction of plants and animals. For example, the bilateral symmetry oforchids is widely admired and this geometry is essential for insects to pollinatethese flowers.
Duration: 8 weeks
Time Commitment: 7-10 hours perweek
Target Group: Scientists andEngineers (current and prospective NTU students)
Recognition: Verified Certificate through Signature Track enrollment
NTU Academic Units: VerifiedCertificate Students earn 3 Academic Units
NTU Course Type: Unrestricted Elective or General Elective
This course gives you the means to address several fundamental questions.
- What tags do we recognize in decorative arrangements?
- What guidelines shape the patterns in the world around us?
- What functions do these symmetrical patterns serve?
- How are drug and materials design engineered throughatomic scale symmetry?
- How is the internalarrangement of atoms reflected by crystal faceting?
- How does symmetry manipulation create polytypes, polymorphs and polysomes?
To amplify these ideas, you willundertake field-exercises and be introduced to specialists - botanists,artists, geomancers, historians, scientists and engineers - that work withsymmetry, and who will provide their personal insights into its ‘magic’ andimpact on their disciplines.
The option of earning AUs is opento all students. It is not necessary to be already enrolled at NTU. Once earned, the AUs remain valid for 3years.
Course Difficulty
This is a challenging course with 65% of students rating the material as Difficult to Very Difficult, but many find the subject matter stimulating.
- What tags do we recognize in decorative arrangements?
Overview
Syllabus
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The course content is eleased in two week blocks and consists of approximately 1 hr of lectures and tutorials per week. There are specific windows for uploading homework and undertaking peer-to-peer marking. These are detailed in the downloadable course timetable.
Part I: Basic Concepts of Symmetry
- Week 1: ‘A World of Symmetry’ will refresh your intuitive appreciation of symmetry in furniture, botany and common objects and introduce he mathematics of point symmetry.
- Week 2: ‘Tiling and the Asymmetric Unit’ begins by examining tessellations in architecture that will illustrate key concepts in plane symmetry including he asymmetric unit. ‘Chirality’ discusses this key concept in symmetry and its impact on drug desig and delivery.
Part II: Plane (2D) and Space (3D) Symmetry
- Week 3: ‘Escher and Graphic Design’ introduces symmetry operations in 2 dimensions and the difference between ‘primitive’ and ‘centered’ unit cells are illustrated using the art of Escher. ‘Nets’ examines the role of symmetry in Islamic architecture and history in the context of regular networks.
- Week 4: ‘Space Symmetry’ expands the symmetry operations to include 3 dimensional motion. The methodology for reading and using the symmetry diagrams of the 17 plane groups and 230 space groups is introduced.
Part III: Symmetry in Crystals
- Week 5: ‘Crystal Forms and the Beauty of Minerals’ looks the external shape of mineral crystals and we learn about crystal power by visiting a geomancer. The manner in which crystal faceting eflects the internal atomic arrangements is described. ‘Planes, Directions and Unit Cell’ introduces the mathematics for describing perfect crystal structures.
- Week 6: ‘Platonic Solids and Atomic Bonding’ shows that regular geometrical shapes can be derived from folding plane ets into polyhedra that often describe atomic clustering and also the appearance of defects o asymmetry that are important aesthetically and technologically. A laboratory tour will show the experiments used to extract crystallographic information.
Part IV: Symmetry and Technology
- Week 7: ‘Tailoring Crystals for Technology’ brings together chemistry and crystallography, shows how they are inter-related, and how they are adapted to engineer designer technological materials. A clean room fabrication facility provides real world context fo exploiting chemically- and physically-driven symmetry.
- Week 8: ‘Looking for Broken Symmetry - Atomic Scale Imaging’ looks beyond 3 dimensional symmetry to higher dimensional epetitions found in incommensurate crystal structures. ‘Deceptive Perception - Symmetry & Furniture Design’ returns to the everyday appearance of symmetry that can now be explored analytically.
At the conclusion of this study, you will possess the tools and the motivation to look at symmetry with even greate delight, wonder and appreciation!
- Week 1: ‘A World of Symmetry’ will refresh your intuitive appreciation of symmetry in furniture, botany and common objects and introduce he mathematics of point symmetry.
