Rigidity Theory and Applications

Book excerpt: Although rigidity has been studied since the time of Lagrange (1788) and Maxwell (1864), it is only in the last twenty-five years that it has begun to find applications in the basic sciences. The modern era starts with Laman (1970), who made the subject rigorous in two dimensions, followed by the development of computer algorithms that can test over a million sites in seconds and find the rigid regions, and the associated pivots, leading to many applications. This workshop was organized to bring together leading researchers studying the underlying theory, and to explore the various areas of science where applications of these ideas are being implemented.