Lego

By Nicolás Ordax

I'm sure you've all heard of this fantastic construction game: Lego. But, do you know who invented it? How did it start? How did it evolve?

The inventor of Lego was Ole Kirk Christiansen. He was born in Filskov, Denmark, on April 7th 1891.

He was the 13th son in a big family and at a young age he began learning carpentry. In 1932 he started to make wooden toys because he had lost his job. He initially made miniature houses and furniture. In 1947 he began to use plastic. After that he created the Lego company (Lego=Leg godt=Play well).

The next thing he invented was the characteristic block union system, which was an enormous succes all over the world. Nowadays Lego is one of the most important toy firms on the planet.

After his death, his son Godtfred took over the company, and after him his grandson Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.

The company’s latest inventions are the Lego robots (Lego toys controlled by computer), Lego clothes and many other products.

There are also Lego theme parks, called Legoland. There are many of these: one in Denmark, one in England, one in the USA and one in Germany...

If you're bored with building, why not try to create something artistic? There are some genuine Lego artists, people who make sculptures out of Lego or "paintings" with Lego blocks.

For example, there is a Lego Gioconda, or a Gizeh Sphinx made of yellow, red, white, blocks. etc.

Let us hope that this great company has a good present and an even better future.

Rubik’s Cube

The Rubik’s Cube

By Pere Cases

The Rubik’s Cube is a three dimensional mechanical puzzle invented by Ernő Rubik in 1974. He was born on July 13th 1944, in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, and has always lived in this country. His father was a flight engineer and his mother was a poet. He studied architectural engineering at the Technical University of Budapest, and after that he studied sculpture and interior architecture. In 1971 he worked as an architect and later became a professor in the Budapest College of Applied Arts. He studied spatial alterations and the relationship between man and space. He thinks that a cube is the best expression of space. He invented the Rubik’s cube in 1974.

The Rubik’s Cube has six faces, divided into nine pieces printed in six different colours. The final goal is to have all the pieces on each face in the same colour. To achieve this, the faces need to be moved up or down and to the left or right. This cube is also known as the magic cube. Rubik invented it to help students to understand 3D objects. There are five hundred and nineteen quintillion possible arrangements of pieces that make up the cube (the full number is: 519.024.039.293.878.272.000.000.000.000.000).

The classic Rubik’s cube has 3x3x3 pieces but there are different ones with more pieces; 2x2x2, 4x4x4, 5x5x5, 6x6x6, 9x9x9 and so on.

In addition to the cube shape, there are other kinds of Rubik’s Cubes. One example is the one in the above photo, which is called Rubik’s Come from Hell.

When I was in Budapest, I bought a 3x3x3 classic cube and a 5x5x5 cube. Next time I go there I will buy a 7x7x7 Rubik’s cube. I can do the classic one in one and a half minutes, but the world record score is 6 seconds. I can solve the 5x5x5 cube in half an hour; to learn how to do this, I searched for clips on the YouTube website. It took me less than two weeks to learn how to solve it.

I believe that the Rubik’s Cube is a good invention.