Alexander Overwijk
Alexander Overwijk is a Canadian math teacher who went viral for his claim of being able to hand-draw a perfect circle.[1]
Career
[edit]Overwijk is the former head of the math department at Glebe Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, Canada.[2] He is also a former basketball player and coach at Carleton University, and was inducted into the Lindsay, Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.[3]
Overwijk is known for his active and experimental teaching style.[3][4]
Viral fame
[edit]Beginning in 1996, to keep his class engaged, Overwijk would tell his students a story about being the "World Freehand Circle Drawing Champion." To further his claim, he would hand-draw a circle on the blackboard. In 2007, a video of Overwijk drawing a near-perfect circle for his class went viral on YouTube.[5][6] Although the original story was a fabrication, he hosted a real "World Freehand Circle Drawing Championship" as a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society following his viral fame.[7]
In 2012, Overwijk and his circle-drawing abilities were featured on The Today Show.[8] In 2018, a professor of the Department of Mathematics at Stockholm University found the drawing from the 2007 video to have a circularness of 99.7%.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ Brownlee, John (11 January 2007). "World Champion Draws A Perfect Circle". Wired. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ Overwijk, Al; Pacarynuk, Lynn. "Spotlight Story: Glebe Collegiate Institute, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB)". www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca. Government of Ontario. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ a b Dooley, Chris (6 September 2022). A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp. FriesenPress. pp. 162–163. ISBN 978-1-0391-5448-3. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ Gamwell, Peter; Daly, Jane (17 May 2017). The Wonder Wall: Leading Creative Schools and Organizations in an Age of Complexity. Corwin Press. pp. 132–134. ISBN 978-1-5063-8270-8. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ "Innocent fib lands Ottawa teacher in media spotlight for drawing perfect circles". CityNews. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ Lin, William (13 January 2007). "Glebe math teacher circles the web". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ "What goes around comes around for Ottawa YouTube star". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 22 February 2007. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ "Teacher who can draw perfect circle does it live". Today. NBC. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ Höhle, Michael. "Judging Freehand Circle Drawing Competitions". staff.math.su.se. Stockholm University. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
Further reading
[edit]- Korenblat, Joshua (23 May 2007). "Perfect Circles". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- Harrington, Rebecca (3 November 2015). "Why it's incredibly difficult to draw a perfect circle". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 January 2023.