Matila Ghyka

 

Prince Matila Costiesco Ghyka (born Matila Costiescu) (September 13, 1881 – July 14, 1965), was a novelist, mathematician, historian, philosopher and diplomat at the Romanian Plenipotentiary Minister in the United Kingdom during the late 1930s and until 1940. His first name is sometimes written as Matyla.

He was born in Iaşi, the former capital of Moldavia, of the Ghica family of boyars. On his mother's side he was the great-grandson of Grigore Alexandru Ghica, last reigning Prince of Moldavia before the union of the Danubian Principalities.

He is known for his contribution to the concept of symmetry. Ghyka uses the term of symmetry in its basic meaning,that is the definition of a pleasant proportion from an aesthetic point of view. In his book, “Aesthetics of proportions in nature and art” (1927) he shows that the vegetal and animal world is connected to the pentagonal symmetry defined by the golden number, symmetry which generates a dynamic periodicity and structures the growing pulsations of a logarithmic spiral.

His book, “The golden number” is published in 1931 by Gallimard and its foreword was written by Paul Valéry. “The geometry of art and life” (1946) is a classic study that probes the geometric interrelationships between art and life in discussions ranging from dissertations by Plato, Pythagoras, and Archimedes to examples of modern architecture and art. Other topics include the Golden Section, geometrical shapes on the plane, geometrical shapes in space, crystal lattices, and other fascinating subjects

1.      Matila Costiesco Ghyka’s books,  “Aesthetics of proportions in nature and art” and “The golden number” were published by:

a)      Hachette

b)      Gallimard

c)      Harcourt

2.      Matila Costiesco Ghyka was born in

a)      1931

b)      1946

c)      1881

3.      Matila Costiesco Ghyka’s book that has a foreword written by Paul Valery is

a)      The Golden Section

b)      The golden Ratio

c)      The golden number

By Prof. Molcalut Georgeta - Florentina