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Learn more about the legendary Hagoromo chalk on the latest episode of Great Big Story, a new podcast from CNN about the surprising stories all around us.
Some call it the Rolls Royce of chalk, the Steinway of writing utensils. Some say it's unbreakable, others say it leaves no dust behind by
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| David Eisenbud holds up a stick of Hagoromo, the chalk brand favored among math professors. |
"I would reach into my cupboard in my office and pull out another box and we'd do the deal in my office," says math professor (and chalk dealer) Brian Conrad of Stanford University.
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I didn't want to become a chalk dealer, but I did like the idea that I could be, 'The first stick is free,' chalk dealer on the block in my department," says Max Lieblich, a mathematics professor at the University of Washington...
I didn't want to become a chalk dealer, but I did like the idea that I could be, 'The first stick is free,' chalk dealer on the block in my department," says Max Lieblich, a mathematics professor at the University of Washington...
Thanks to Shin, Hagoromo continues to be produced today
"A
student of mine from South Korea made a trip back home and came back
with a box ... it was indistinguishable," Conrad said. "And a Japanese
colleague of mine who's a big fan of the stuff, I gave him a piece of
each type, the old type and the new type, and he couldn't tell the
difference. Indistinguishable, just as good as always."
So, how about the mathematicians and their stockpiles?
"It was mixed emotions," says Lieblich. "I was happy to know that it would still be made. I was a little disappointed that I was less clever than I thought I was."
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Source: CNN
