My name is Dmitry Weise. I was born on the 4th of September 1956 in Moscow. In those days my country was the Soviet Union. When I studied in the secondary school I loved Biology. The Soviet school gave good and solid knowledge in those days. Then I entered and graduated from Medical University and up to date (2017) I have been working as a medical doctor. I have no special technical and mathematical education.
I still keep one memory of my childhood: I enter a bookstore and see a plain little book with the abstruse name “Fibonacci numbers” on the top shelf. I thought to myself: “Is there anybody going to read this book?”
Many years later I accidentally found out that the Fibonacci numbers can be explicitly observed on a great numbers of plants. It was probably the biggest surprise in my life. This fact was not actually described in available literature. My close botanists did not know about phyllotaxis (leaves arrangement). This was very contrary to my ideas about the relationship of Wildlife and Mathematics (at my University we studied statistics).
My life has been split into two periods: before and after. I wanted to find the answer to this riddle. As an adult family man, I surprised other people by counting the spirals on pinecones, pineapples, sunflowers and other flora object. After I became acquainted with other “fibonaccists”, I learned to hide my addiction. I envy myself, recalling this period of life. I felt like a pioneer, like a discoverer in the absence of literature, good specialists, and The Internet. There was a new obsession, previously unknown to me. First I looked at scientists as at martyrs, and now, having experienced the joy of discovery, I began to regard them as happy people. Later I learned that most of my discoveries had already been discovered last century, but it was not disappointing for me.
I thank my lucky stars that phyllotaxy-passion has helped me to understand something in the surrounding beloved nature and share my knowledge with others. I thank my lucky stars that phyllotaxy-passion has helped me join the community of interesting and noble science people – my friends, my colleagues.
Thank Symmetry!