The world of science interested in juggling

In the 20th century, juggling was the starting point for scientists to examine other complex issues. It was used in studying ways in which humans move, coordination between arm and leg movements as well as in studies in the field of robotics and structure of juggling machines (rules of controlling the mechanisms in real time). Another area scientists found interesting was the inspection of juggling patterns - the mathematics of juggling.

The first known scientific studies devoted to juggling were started in 1903. In his article published in the American Journal of Psychology, Edgar James Swift reported how quickly some students managed to learn how to toss two balls with one hand. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, the first computers were used to calculate trajectories of tossed objects, while juggling was used to compare general methods of acquiring motor skills.

In the 1980’s in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, scientists began to inspect features of juggling itself. Professor Claude Shannon, a mathematician working at Bells Labs and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, constructed the first ever juggling machines and formulated a juggling theory referred to as the Juggling Theorem. This theory determines the relationships between ball positions and hand movements. It defines interdependencies which must occur between the time in which the hands are empty or hold the balls and the time spent by the balls in the air.

Prof. Seymour A. Papert and other researchers involved in the MAC Project (which later was renamed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) studied the manners in which people manage to learn how to juggle.

Another example of a researcher dealing with the question of juggling has been Ronald L. Graham, director for scientific research at research labs of the computer company, AT&T Labs Research (formerly Bell Labs), former chairman of the International Juggling Association and lecturer at Rutgers University conducting Mathematics seminars around the world. He can juggle as many as seven balls and he claims that juggling is a great metaphor of life and science.

The 1980’s saw a boom of the mathematics of juggling. Around 1985, independently of each other, three scientists: Paul Klimek from the University of California in Santa Cruz, Bruce Tiemann from California Institute of Technology and Michael Day from the University of Cambridge developed a description of a juggling pattern showing changes in the positions of objects. It represents the order in which the objects are tossed and caught. They are the so called site-swaps (to find out more, check Google: juggling site-swap).

By: Mirosław Urban

References:

1.Urban Mirosław (2007) “New dimensions of the art of juggling vol. I” KuglArt – Alternative Circus Arts Magazine, issue no. 1/2007)

2.Peter J. Beek, Arthur Lewbel (1995) “Science of Juggling”, Scientific American, November, Volume 273, Number 5