This volume derives from a workshop on differential geometry, calculus of vari­ ations, and computer graphics at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, May 23-25, 1988. The meeting was structured around principal lectures given by F. Almgren, M. Callahan, J. Ericksen, G. Francis, R. Gulliver, P. Hanra­ han, J. Kajiya, K. Polthier, J. Sethian, I. Sterling, E. L. Thomas, and T. Vogel. The divergent backgrounds of these and the many other participants, as reflected in their lectures at the meeting and in their papers presented here, testify to the unifying element of the workshop's central theme. Any such meeting is ultimately dependent for its success on the interest and motivation of its participants. In this respect the present gathering was especially fortunate. The depth and range of the new developments presented in the lectures and also in informal discussion point to scientific and technological frontiers be­ ing crossed with impressive speed. The present volume is offered as a permanent record for those who were present, and also with a view toward making the material available to a wider audience than were able to attend.

Inhalt

Multi-functions Mod ?.- Computer Graphics of Solutions of the Generalized Monge-Ampère Equation.- Computer Graphics Tools for Rendering Algebraic Surfaces and for Geometry of Order.- A Low Cost Animation System Applied to Ray Tracing in Liquid Crystals.- From Sketches to Equations to Pictures: Minimal Surfaces and Computer Graphics.- Nonuniqueness and Uniqueness of Capillary Surfaces.- Static Theory of Nematic Liquid Crystals.- The Etruscan Venus.- Harmonic Mappings, Symmetry, and Computer Graphics.- Video Based Scientific Visualization.- Bubbles, Conservation Laws, and Balanced Diagrams.- Liquid Menisci in Polyhedral Containers.- Can One Hear the Shape of a Fractal Drum? Partial Resolution of the Weyl-Berry Conjecture.- Steepest Descent as a Tool to Find Critical Points of ? k2 Defined on Curves in the Plane with Arbitrary Types of Boundary Conditions.- Geometric Data for Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces in Spaces of Constant Curvature.- Embedded Triply-Periodic Minimal Surfaces and Related Soap Film Experiments.- The Collapse of a Dumbbell Moving Under Its Mean Curvature.- Geometry Versus Imaging: Extended Abstract.- Constant Mean Curvature Tori.- On Deformable Models.- Periodic Area Minimizing Surfaces in Microstructural Science.- Types of Instability for the Trapped Drop Problem with Equal Contact Angles.