The main theme: the Gömböc

The central element of the Hungarian Pavilion and the Hungarian Expo-participation is the Gömböc, a recent scientific discovery which has attracted worldwide interest and acknowledgement. The new geometric shape, created by Prof. Gábor Domokos and Dr. Péter Várkonyi is the first known homogenous object with just one stable and one unstable equilibrium point.

Gömböc

One of the most prestigious scientific publications, The Mathematical Intelligencer showed a Hungarian invention on its front page in early 2007. The last it happened to a Hungarian invention was in 1979 – that was the Rubik’s Cube. Since then the Gömböc was introduced in several scientific institutes, academies and universities. Besides its increasing popularity it already found applications in further disciplines.

In the field of biology, the shape of the Gömböc is closely related to that of some turtles’ shell. The highly domed shell helps the animal in self-righting.

Since the invention of Gömböc geology uses a new ranking method for pebbles. One of the newest scopes is astrophysics, where the forms of asteroids are observed in comparison to the Gömböc shape.

Gömböc is a symbol of dual harmony and balance. The most interesting feature of the Gömböc is that it self-rights from any initial position spontaneously, just like the weeble toy, however, without added weight.

Designers of the Hungarian Pavilion project this feature of the Gömböc to the entire country: just like the Gömböc, „Hungary always recovers”. The Gömböc has a close ideological relation with Yin Yang, both symbolizing the pursuit for harmony and balance. This is what Hungarians wish to realize in urban development as well.

Related website:
www.gomboc.eu/en