Mike Sterling playing his newly unveiled instrument, the Bernoulli Involute at the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, September 30.

Hub Staff

Mike Sterling, a Southampton mathematician, unveiled a new instrument, the Bernoulli Involute, on September 30 at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre (BCM&CC).

Sterling said he spent 3,000 hours thinking, designing and machining the instrument, which is based on the logarithmic spiral, a design often found in nature and one that was extensively researched by 17th century Swiss mathematician, Jakob Bernoulli, who later called it “spira mirabilis” or “the marvelous spiral”.

The BCM&CC event saw Sterling play his instrument for the first time in public, accompanied by pianist Harry Carson, following a lecture on the geometry of music and spira mirabilis.

The instrument was manufactured in Keady at the Kuhl Machine Shop and can be played vertically or horizontally with 12 adjustments in each position.

“I wanted the sculpture to sing,” said Sterling following the lecture and musical presentation.

After 3,000 hours of work the Bernoulli Involute was ready to be presented to the public.

Mike Sterling presented a lecture on the Geometry of Music before being accompanied by musician Harry Carson on piano, at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre, September 30.