Packing problems have a long and fascinating history, and the subject is active today on many fronts. The core of the subject presents us with idealized mathematical challenges, of which the most famous is the Kepler problem, while applications and implications span most of the sciences, engineering and industrial sectors (including pharmaceuticals and catalysis).
The aim of the International Workshop on Packing Problems was to provide a forum for the discussion of packing problems in many of these fields. The lively exchange of ideas at the workshop proved that this was fully achieved. The suggestion to turn the workshop into a biennial event was readily accepted with various institutions offering to host it in 2014.
The workshop was held in the School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland from 2 to 5 September 2012, and was organized by S. Hutzler (TCD) and A. Mughal (Institute of Mathematics and Physics, Aberystwyth University, Wales). It was sponsored by Science Foundation Ireland (Conference and Workshop reference code: 12/CW/I2245) and received some additional funding by Fáilte Ireland. The workshop attracted some 45 attendees, with 36 oral presentations, eight of them invited. In addition, a well-attended public lecture was held in the Science Gallery Dublin by P. Chaikin (New York University) on “Experimental Geometry: Experiments with candies, dice and colloids”.
I acknowledge the support of the TCD School of Physics and the many postgraduates who assisted. A special thanks goes to the Conference Secretary Dr. Ho-Kei Chan, now at the University of Nottingham, whose help was invaluable for the successful running of the workshop. Finally, I am very grateful to Philosophical Magazine for publishing these proceedings in a special issue and for the help of the Associate Guest Editors. Not only does the issue present a cross-section of the ideas and results presented at the workshop, but it also provides a concise and up to date introduction to packing problems for researchers new to the area.
S. Hutzler, Trinity College DublinAssociate Guest Editors
T. Aste, University College London
H.-K. Chan, University of Nottingham
W. Drenckhan, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay
S. Hutzler, Trinity College Dublin
A. Mughal, Aberystwyth University