Soon anyone can buy their own Gömböc, a Magyar-made object that is carefully shaped to always return to an upright position no matter how you place it on a flat surface. Ten long years after Hungarian scientists created this breakthrough invention, it will finally be placed on the market in the near future.
First introduced to the public in 2006, the convex three-dimensional homogeneous body was one of the biggest sensations at that year’s Shanghai World Expo. Its creators were working on the homogeneity of Gömböc for a year. The solid object – which has one stable and one unstable equilibrium point, so that it always returns to an upright position no matter how it is placed on a flat surface – is one of the most important Hungarian research findings of recent years. The Gömböc was also exhibited at last summer’s Hungaricum Street.
One of the inventors, Gábor Domokos, told Népszabadság (in Hungarian) that an affordable version of the invention would be in stores within a few months. According to plans, the “toy Gömböc” would initially cost around 10,000 forints.
