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The physics of the familiar

A Harvard Magazine cover story profiles L. Mahadevan's physics of the familiar, from how paint dries to how Nature discovered origami (Harvard Magazine)

“Just because something is familiar doesn’t mean you understand it. That is the common fallacy that all adults make—and no child ever does,” says Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, England de Valpine professor of applied mathematics. Mahadevan enjoys explaining mathematically the phenomena of everyday life: practicing the old-fashioned method of scientific inquiry called natural philosophy, where one wonders about everything.

Read the full story in Harvard Magazine