The Age of Hexagons

Posted by hexnet ::

Simple hexagon It looks like the hexagonal zeitgeist is finally floating to the surface of our collective media environment. Two stories in particular off of our hexagonal news feed caught my eye this morn:

Geometry lessons
". . . Just as the 1950s will always be remembered as the decade of atomic-inspired motifs, so may the early decades of the 21st century be remembered, by those of pop cultural bent, as belonging to the hexagon."

The Hexagon Harley 1.4301
"Six is the magic number on this handcrafted custom Harley Davidson by Horst Dzhangmen. Everything but the engine, a HD Shovelhead 1340 cm3 and the frame, has been cut and built into perfectly shaped hexagons and this exceptional work took its creator three years of hard work to achieve this perfection."

Honeycomb

Posted by hexnet ::

In this image we see the classic hexagonal honeycomb structure of the enlightened honeybee. The hexagonal structure is common to the nesting architecture many related insects, including wasps, et cetera. Note that the strength of the comb is improved not only by the superior hexagonal geometry, but also by the skillful employment of rhombic facets at the closed end of the cells.

Modified from a transcription by Charles H. Smith originally published at: http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S083.htm.

My attention has been called to the paper in the 'Annals' for June last on the above subjects, the author of which seems to me to have quite misunderstood and much misrepresented the facts and reasonings of Mr. Darwin on the question. As some of your readers may conclude, if it remains unanswered, that it is therefore unanswerable, I ask permission to make a few remarks on what seem to me its chief errors.