Picasso, pottery and plants: Professor Enrico Coen’s 2016 Croonian Lecture at the Royal Society
In July 2015, Professor Enrico Coen was awarded the Royal Society’s premier award, the Croonian Medal and invited to give the Croonian Lecture at the Royal Society.
The lecture, entitled ‘Picasso, pottery and plants: Hidden rules governing the development of natural forms’, was warmly received by a large audience, including Professor Coen’s research team and several members of his family.
The audience were transported through Professor Coen’s career and lifelong obsession to understand how complex plant shapes are formed. Professor Coen guided the audience with elegant analogies of Picasso and pottery, challenged them to predict the outcomes of models, and awed with a live demonstration.
