The Sophistication of Islamic Architecture

Harvard University’s Peter Lu and Princeton University’s Paul Steinhardt have discovered that medieval Islamic architecture was employing sophisticated geometric designs called “Quasicrystalline” in tile patterns.  In an article appearing on Reuters, the researchers who have published their findings in the journal Science reported examining these patterns in the Darb-I Imam Shrine in Isfahan.  The particularly interesting aspect of this story is that Quasicrystalline patterns were discovered by British mathematician and cosmologist Roger Penrose in 1970s.  Darb-I Imam Shrine was built in 1453.  The new findings suggest that Muslim mathematicians made this mathematical breakthrough by the year 1200 and sophisticated patterns emerged almost 500 years earlier than Roger Penrose’s findings.  According to the researchers these patterns can be found in other Islamic buildings across central Asia.  This is a fascinating discovery whether or not the architects were actually aware of their breakthrough as Lu points out:

“We can’t say for sure what it means, It could be proof of a major role of mathematics in medieval Islamic art or it could have been just a way for artisans to construct their art more easily. It would be incredible if it were all coincidence, though. At the very least, it shows us a culture that we often don’t credit enough was far more advanced than we ever thought before.”

Quasicrystalline Tiling:
Quasicrystalline tiling also called Penrose tiling represents infinitely non-repeating patterns that are symmetric.  There are some neat pictures and an explaination here.

The original reports can be found here and here.

These pictures of Darb-I Imam were taken by Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom and taken from here.