Rubik's Cube

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The 1980’s brought about many exciting inventions. A few of the most famous were: the CD-Rom (1984), the disposable camera (1986), and the digital cellular phone (1988). During this decade another great invention took the world by surprise. Once called the “Magic Cube,” “Rubik’s Cube” is the incredibly addictive multi-dimensional puzzle that has fascinated fans around the world since 1980. Rubik’s Cube was invented in the spring of 1974 by a Hungarian professor of architecture named Erno Rubik. Because his father was a mechanical engineer, and his mother, a poet and artist, Rubik was naturally inclined with both a technical and artful presence. Despite his genetics, he initially leaned towards visual arts. He studied sculpture in college, and after graduation decided to go back to learn architecture at the Academy of Applied Arts and Design. After his studies, he remained there to teach interior designs. While teaching, Rubik developed a passionate interest in geometry. He would communicate his ideas to his students by the use of actual 3D models made from paper, cardboard, wood, or plastic. Rubik challenged his students to experiment by manipulating clearly constructed and easily interpreted forms. It was this realization; the simplest elements yielded an abundance of multiple forms that was the first step that led to the invention of the Cube. Rubik’s initial attraction to inventing the Cube was not in producing the best selling toy puzzle in history. The structural design problem was of most interest to him as he tried to figure out how the blocks could move independently without falling apart. In Rubik’s Cube, twenty-six individual little cubes make up the big Cube. Each layer of nine cubes can twist and the layers can overlap. Any three squares in a row, except diagonally, can join a new layer. The initial attempt to use elastic bands failed. His

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