School of Mathematics

Rubik's world record broken

Over the weekend of 21-22 March, the University of Edinburgh hosted a World Cube Association event in which over 50 participants travelled from 14 countries to compete.

A new world record was set for solving a 4x4 Rubik's cube whilst blindfolded: Oliver Frost set a new record-breaking time of 2 minutes and 10.47 seconds, breaking his previous world record of 2 minutes and 18.65 seconds.

This event was organised by Simon Crawford, a PhD student in the School of Mathematics and former European Rubik's champion. It followed from a workshop held in Innovative Learning Week where Simon and others taught students (and staff!) how to solve Rubik's cubes.

Other participants to the competition included Brendan Vallance, a former world champion and current 5x5 European record holder, Daniel Sheppard, a  former 5x5 blindfolded world record holder and former Rubik's clock world champion, and Cornelius Dieckmann, a well known German cuber who has held multiple European records.

[This story has been picked up by The Scotsman and the Daily Mail Online.]