Il Giardino di Archimede

For more information: http://web.math.unifi.it/archimede/ Serving: Firenze, Italy Since: circa 2000 Attributes: exhibitions, international, not-for-profit, and visitor center

Il Giardino di Archimede is a museum completely devoted to mathematics in its widest sense, including, that is, not only that which goes under the name of pure mathematics, but also its application to other sciences, to technology, and most of all, what is maybe the most important thing of all, its role in everyday life. The objectives of such a museum are manifold. Firstly, the audience can come into contact with the central core of mathematical ideas that reside inside the exhibits and determine their connections. Like a skeleton, which cannot be seen directly but requires the appropriate instruments and can be deducted from the posture of the animal that owns it, mathematics can only emerge from the comparison of different objects and physical phenomena, at first sight very diverse, but which depend on a single mathematical concept or result, which links and unifies them.