Proving the Perfection of the Honeycomb
Dana N. Mackenzie · Science · 1999
Scientists have long assumed that a hexagonal lattice allows bees to store the most honey while using the least beeswax to separate them, but no one could prove it. Then last month, at the TurAin Workshop in Mathematics, Convex and Discrete Geometry in Budapest, a mathematician presented his proof that a hexagonal honeycomb has walls with the shortest total length, per unit area, of any design that divides a plane into equal-sized cells.