Tessellations in Math

Even though tessellations have been traced back to ancient cultures and can be found in the nature they have a short history in mathematical study. The first study of tessellations was conducted by Johannes Kepler in 1619. He wrote about regular tessellations which cover a plane with polygons. However, it was over 200 years before anything else was done.

In 1891, E.S. Fedorov, a Russian crystallographer, proved that every tiling of a plane has certain mathematical aspects. His study marked the beginning of mathematical study of tessellations. Since then, various analyses of tilings have extended into non- Euclidean geometry. Important mathematicians in this area are Shubnickov and Belov and Heesch and Kienzle.

Go to Make a Tessellation to learn to make your own.