2013 Joint Mathematics Meetings

Andrew Davidhazy

Artists

Andrew Davidhazy

Professor (retired)

Honeoye Falls, New York, USA

andpph@davidhazy.org

http://www.davidhazy.org/andpph

Statement

I am "driven" by my interest in making visible and explaining physical phenomena that are generally invisible or incomprehensible to our naked or unaided eyes. Most often these events and their behaviors visually stunning as well as inherently describable in mathematical terms. I think I am best described as an Applied Photographer more so than a photographic artist yet my work often reflects, I hope, significant aesthetic qualities.

Artworks

Image for entry 'Bullet at Mach 1.4 with trailing particle'

Bullet at Mach 1.4 with trailing particle

12 x 18 inch image in 16 x 20 mat

pigment jet print

2005

This microsecond duration shadowgraph of a supersonic bullet in free flight trailed by a fragment of unknown origin is inherently infused with physical relationships that are fully and best described in mathematical terms. Ernst Mach decoded the meaning of shock waves and quantified the relationships between supersonic missiles and the speed of sound. Thus this photograph may be appreciated not only for its visual impact but also for the its mathematical content.