Helmut Vogel
Sunflower phyllotaxis model
German physicist whose 1979 sunflower model placed successive points at the golden angle, elegantly explaining phyllotactic packing.
Phyllotaxis
Vogel’s sunflower: each seed sits on a golden-angle spiral. Count fills the disc; spread is how far the pack reaches.
About this pattern
Helmut Vogel, 1979
Vogel’s sunflower (1979): seed i sits at radius √i and angle i·π(3−√5), the golden angle from Fibonacci. Count fills the disc; spread is how far the pack reaches. The 1D index is the only degree of freedom.
Behind the mathematics