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"Magnificently sophisticated geometric patterns in medieval Islamic
architecture indicate their designers achieved a mathematical breakthrough
500 years earlier than Western scholars, scientists said on Thursday.

By the 15th century, decorative tile patterns on these masterpieces of
Islamic architecture reached such complexity that a small number boasted
what seem to be "quasicrystalline" designs, Harvard University's
Peter Lu and Princeton University's Paul Steinhardt wrote in the journal
Science.

Only in the 1970s did British mathematician and cosmologist Roger Penrose
become the first to describe these geometric designs in the West.
Quasicrystalline patterns comprise a set of interlocking units whose
pattern never repeats, even when extended infinitely in all directions, and
possess a special form of symmetry. Reuters Pictures
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"Oh, it's absolutely stunning," Lu said in an interview.
"They made tilings that reflect mathematics that were so sophisticated
that we didn't figure it out until the last 20 or 30 years.""


Adam

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