Chudnovsky brothers
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The Chudnovsky brothers are mathematicians known for their wide mathematical ability, their home-built supercomputers, and their close working relationship. A 1992 article in the New Yorker quoted the opinion of several mathematicians that Gregory Chudnovsky is one of the world's best living mathematicians. David Chudnovsky works closely with and assists his brother Gregory, who suffers from Myasthenia Gravis.
The Chudnovsky brothers have held records, at different times, for computing π to the largest number of places, including two billion digits in the early 1990s on a supercomputer they built (dubbed "m-zero") in their apartment in Brooklyn. In 1987, the Chudnovsky brothers developed the algorithm that they used to break several π computation records. Today, this algorithm is used by Mathematica to calculate π.
The brothers also assisted the Metropolitan Museum of Art around 2003 in the merging of a series of digital photographs taken of The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries during their cleaning.
The brothers are currently Industry Professors at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn.
[edit] The Chudnovsky algorithm
The algorithm implements rapid, high precision calculation of the following hypergeometric series. It is based on Ramanujan's formulae and bears much resemblance to them.
[edit] External links
- Mountains of Pi, the New Yorker, 1992.
- Capturing the Unicorn, the New Yorker, 2005.
- NOVA scienceNOW - A 10 minute video of the NOVA broadcast that aired on PBS, July 26, 2005. Hosted by Robert Krulwich. The Chudnovsky brothers and "the Metropolitan Museum of Art's celebrated unicorn tapestry [that] was surprisingly difficult to photograph. Find out why."
