Gömböc

[My Good Babushka]

Gömböc- n. A convex three-dimensional homogeneous body which, when resting on a flat surface, has just one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium. It can’t be knocked over. Its existence was conjectured by Russian mathematician Vladimir Arnold in 1995 and proven in 2006 by Hungarian scientists Gábor Domokos and Péter Várkonyi. The gömböc shape is not unique; it has countless varieties, most of which are very close to a sphere and all have very strict shape tolerance.

If analyzed quantitatively in terms of flatness and thickness, the discovered mono-monostatic body is the most sphere-like body, apart from the sphere itself. Because of this, it was named gömböc, meaning a diminutive of gömb (“sphere” in Hungarian). Originally gömböc is a sausage-like food: seasoned pork filled in pig-stomach, similar to haggis. There is a Hungarian folk tale about an anthropomorphic gömböc, which swallows several people whole.

[flying rabbit]

1. Oddly fascinating. nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. A tortoise is considered to be a gömböc

because of its ability to right itself when placed upside down. The tortoise is the only known practical application of the gömböc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6mb%C3%B6c and http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/biomechanics/10309/the-living-g-mb-c