Shortest closed curve to contain a sphere in its convex hull

Abstract We show that in Euclidean 3‐space any closed curve which contains the unit sphere within its convex hull has length , and characterize the case of equality. This result generalizes the authors' recent solution to a conjecture of Zalgaller. Furthermore, for the analogous problem in dimensions, we include the estimate by Nazarov, which is sharp up to the constant .