Beauty What is a beauty? What does it mean to be beautiful? Can you quantify it?

“No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly” Oscar Wilde, writer “Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it” Confucius, Chinese philosopher “The difference between pretty and beautiful is- pretty is temporal-whereas beautiful is eternal.” Angelina Jolie, actress Discuss these quotes

The Golden Ratio (Phi) Φ = No one knows who first discovered it. The Greeks used it… Fibonacci recognized it in a sequence 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89….. but it was used way before then…

It is also seen in The Great Pyramid of Giza ~ built around 2560 BC

The Parthenon is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Its construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power. It was completed in 438 BC

Fibonacci’s Sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,13, 21…. Golden Spiral

Photographers use it!

Architects use it!

In 1950, the Swiss architect Le Corbussier published a book entitled "Le modulator. Essai sur une mesure harmonique a l'echelle humaine applicable universalement a l'architecture et a la mecanique ". He invented the word "modulator" by combining "modul" (ratio) and "or" (gold); another expression for the well-known golden ratio.

10 Franc Note

What has this to do with beauty?

Who was Leonardo da Vinci? Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519, was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, mu sician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer.

What is this? Why was it important?

12cm 19cm 19 ÷ 12 = 1.58 Is Ivan’s face the only face to be in the divine proportion? Does it matter if our face is not in this proportion? There are many other body parts in the golden ratio. We will have a chance to test it out at the end.

We are going to watch a BBC production on ‘The Human Face’, whilst you watch I would like you to consider this: This week in English you will be asked to create a piece of writing that explores the concept of beauty “Do we surround ourselves with the Golden Ratio because we find it aesthetically pleasing, or do we find it aesthetically pleasing because we surrounded by it?”

We are now going to make one half this size! Take your template, 4 split pins and a pair of scissors. Be careful and make sure your split pin is able to rotate 360 degrees when you push it through. When you have done try it out…

Some more examples of the golden ratio…