Lord Kelvin's Isotropic Helicoid

About

Lord Kelvin's Isotropic Helicoid is a specific three-dimensional shape that hypothetically should rotate on its own when dropped in water according to a proposal by mathematician, physicist and engineer Lord Kelvin in 1871. In 2021, researchers created an isotropic helicoid and tested Lord Kelvin's hypothesis, seemingly disproving it. This inspired memes in reaction to the discovery, many playfully mocking Kelvin for being wrong.

Origin

On an unknown date in 1871, mathematician Lord Kelvin, real name William Thompson, proposed a three-dimensional shape called the "isotropic helicoid" that would hypothetically look the same from all angles and rotate on its own when dropped into the water as it sank, similar to a propellor.^[1] He described the shape as probably looking like a sphere with fins at varying angles on the surface.

On July 16th, 2021, New Scientist^[2] published an article detailing how Wesleyan University's Greg Voth and a team of researchers 3D printed a version of the shape (shown below) and tested Kelvin's hypothesis, finding that it did not act how Kelvin hypothesized.

Spread

The disproving of Kelvin's theory inspired mocking memes towards the mathematician, who was previously the subject of memes for once claiming that physics "is dead." On July 18th, 2021, Tumblr^[3] user himbofisher posted a screenshot of the New Scientist Twitter post along with a She Wasn't Lying meme referencing the failed hypothesis, gaining over 23,000 notes in roughly two months (shown below).

On July 19th, Redditor u/netGoblin posted a Trollge Troll Physics comic referencing the theory to /r/okbuddyphd,^[4] gaining over 1,700 upvotes in a similar span of time (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References