Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Mathematics: Soap bubbles and catastrophes

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Beeson, M.J. & Tromba, A.J. Manuscr. Math. 46, 273 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Thom, R. Structural Stability and Morphogenesis (Addison-Wesley, New York, 1975).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Zeeman, E.C. Catastrophe Theory: Selected Papers 1972-1977 (Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1977).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Poston, T. & Stewart, I.N. Catastrophe Theory and its Applications (Pitman, London, 1978).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Nitsche, J.C.C. Vorlesungen über Minimalflächen (Springer, Berlin, 1975).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  6. Douglas, J. Trans. Am. math. Soc. 33, 263 (1931).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Reifenberg, E.R. Acta math. 104, 1 (1960).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. Almgren, F.J. Jr Plateau's Problem (Benjamin, New York, 1966).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  9. Stewart, I.N. Physica 2, 245 (1981).

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. Stewart, I.N. Rep. Prog. Phys. 45, 185 (1982).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Poston, T. in Structural Stability, the Theory of Catastrophes, and Applications in the Sciences, Lect. Notes in Math. (ed. Hilton, P.J.) 525 (Springer, Berlin, 1976).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Tromba, A.J. Can. J. Math. 28, 640 (1976).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Tromba, A.J. On the Number of Simply Connected Minimal Surfaces Spanning a Curve, 194 (Am. math. Soc. Mem., 1977).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Stewart, I. Mathematics: Soap bubbles and catastrophes. Nature 309, 581 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/309581a0

Download citation

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/309581a0

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing