Science & Mathematics - Overview
The Museum's collections hold thousands of objects related to chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Instruments range from early American telescopes to lasers. Rare glassware and other artifacts from the laboratory of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, are among the scientific treasures here. A Gilbert chemistry set of about 1937 and other objects testify to the pleasures of amateur science. Artifacts also help illuminate the social and political history of biology and the roles of women and minorities in science.
The mathematics collection holds artifacts from slide rules and flash cards to code-breaking equipment. More than 1,000 models demonstrate some of the problems and principles of mathematics, and 80 abstract paintings by illustrator and cartoonist Crockett Johnson show his visual interpretations of mathematical theorems.
"Science & Mathematics - Overview" showing 149 items.
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Felsenthal FAO-44 Artillery Protractor
- Description
- This clear plastic semicircular protractor is divided by twenties and marked by two hundreds from 0 to 3,200 and from 3,200 to 6,400. A pinhole is at the origin point. The interior is labeled: ANGULAR MILS; 8016738. This protractor was item no. FAO-44. Felsenthal Instruments Company manufactured it for the U.S. Army about 1958.
- The Felsenthal Instruments Company was the leading supplier of mathematical instruments to the U.S. Army Air Force and the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, particularly during World War II (when the firm was known as G. Felsenthal & Sons). After the company ceased operations in approximately 1976, it provided a large sample of its products to the Smithsonian.
- See also 1977.1141.01, 1977.1141.02, 1977.1141.03, 1977.1141.05, 1977.1141.08, 1977.1141.09, 1977.1141.11, 1977.1141.12, 1977.1141.18, 1977.1141.19, 1977.1141.20, 1977.1141.21, 1977.1141.22, 1977.1141.23, 1977.1141.24, 1977.1141.30, and 1977.1141.39.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1958
- maker
- Felsenthal
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.10
- accession number
- 1977.1141
- catalog number
- 336394
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Felsenthal A-10 Protractor and Map Coordinator
- Description
- This clear plastic semicircular protractor is divided by ten mils and marked by hundreds from 100 to 3,100 in both the clockwise and counterclockwise directions. It is also divided by single degrees and marked by tens from 0° to 180° in both directions. Diagonal lines extend some of the measurement markings out to the edges of the rectangle surrounding the protractor. Pinholes are at the origin point and in the upper left and right corners. The interior of the protractor has cutout stencils for a circle, triangle, square, and two oblong shapes. The middle also contains scales placed at right angles to each other. They are divided and marked by hundreds from 1,000 to 2[00]. The scales are labeled: 1:21120.
- The left edge of the rectangular plastic piece is divided by tenths of an inch and marked by ones from 1 to 3. Inside the 3-inch ruler is a scale for mils divided by hundreds and marked by thousands from 5,000 to 1,000. The scale continues on the top of the rectangle, again divided by hundreds and marked by thousands from 5,000 to 1,000. The scale is labeled: 1:62500. On the right side of the top is a scale labeled: 1:20,000. It is divided and marked by hundreds from 1,000 to 2[00]. This scale also repeats on the right side of the rectangle. On the right edge of the rectangle, there is a scale divided by millimeters and marked by ones from 1 to 7. It is labeled: METRIC.
- The bottom of the protractor bears a scale divided by hundreds and marked by thousands from 1,000 to 8,000. It is labeled: 1:62500. The bottom edge has a second scale, divided by hundreds and marked by five hundreds from 500 to 3,000. It is labeled: 1:21120. The name of the instrument is printed on the very bottom edge: MAP COORDINATOR AND PROTRACTOR - A-10. Donor Ben Rau dated the object to 1942.
- See also 1977.1141.01, 1977.1141.02, 1977.1141.03, 1977.1141.05, 1977.1141.08, 1977.1141.09, 1977.1141.10, 1977.1141.11, 1977.1141.12, 1977.1141.18, 1977.1141.19, 1977.1141.20, 1977.1141.22, 1977.1141.23, 1977.1141.24, 1977.1141.30, and 1977.1141.39.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date attributed by donor
- 1942
- maker
- Felsenthal
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.21
- accession number
- 1977.1141
- catalog number
- 336405
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Instruction Manual for Pickett Slide Rules with Ln-L Scales
- Description
- Maurice Hartung of the University of Chicago wrote this sixteen-page booklet to explain the use of natural log and logarithmic scales placed on Pickett's line of "dual-base" slide rules. Its citation information is: Maurice L. Hartung, How to Use Ln-L Scale Slide Rules (Santa Barbara, Calif.: Pickett, Inc., n.d.). The logo and address on the cover were in use from 1964.
- Pickett used these scales on several models represented in the Smithsonian collections, including 3, 4, 515, 600, and 1010. The rules depicted in the booklet are models 1011 and 4, similar to 2000.0203.01. Hartung explains how to find logarithms and natural logs (by reading the mantissa), powers of e and 10, logarithms of proper fractions, powers for negative exponents, and the characteristic. He explains how to place the decimal point and how to correct for the error introduced when the number 2.3 is used to estimate e. He then covers multiplication, division, logarithms of combined operations, powers of other bases, hyperbolic functions, and applied problems.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1964
- maker
- Hartung, Maurice L.
- ID Number
- 1980.0097.04
- accession number
- 1980.0097
- catalog number
- 1980.0097.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Semicircular Protractor Retailed by Post
- Description
- This semicircular brass protractor is divided by single degrees and marked by tens from 0° to 180° in both the clockwise and counterclockwise directions. The bottom edge is indented so that a pencil or pricker may be placed at the origin point. The protractor bears three marks: POSTS; MADE IN GERMANY; and a fleur-de-lis pointing to the origin. The Frederick W. Post Company, a Chicago mathematical instruments dealer established in 1893, used the type style found on this protractor in the 1920s and 1930s. However, the brass protractor depicted in Post's 1936 catalog is not indented on its lower edge, and it shows an eagle under the maker's mark.
- William J. Ellenberger (1908–2008) donated this object. He studied electrical and mechanical engineering at the George Washington University between 1925 and 1934. He then worked for the Potomac Electric Power Company and the National Bureau of Standards. During World War II, Ellenburger served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He was a civilian construction management engineer for the army from 1954 to 1968, when he became a private consultant.
- References: Frederick W. Post Company, Dependable Drawing Materials, 18th ed. (Chicago, 1936), 195; "The G[eorge] W[ashington] Engineering Hall of Fame 2006 Inductees," http://www.seas.gwu.edu/ifaf/hall_of_fame_inductees_2006.php.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1920-1940
- maker
- Frederick Post Co.
- ID Number
- 1981.0933.18
- accession number
- 1981.0933
- catalog number
- 1981.0933.18
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Holbrook's Geometrical Forms and Arithmetical Solids
- Description
- In the years before the Civil War, several Northern states opened free elementary or common schools. To communicate with large numbers of students, teachers used a wide range of objects, including these models of simple geometrical shapes. Connecticut school reformer and lecturer Josiah Holbrook developed a collection of apparatus for teaching by families and in schools. The models were part of this set. He designed them to help students learn the names of simple solids, basic rules for calculating the area of various flat surfaces, and elementary drawing. Holbrook advertised that his equipment was "Good enough for the best, and cheap enough for the poorest." It was used in thousands of schools. Even after Holbrook died in 1854, his family continued to manufacture school apparatus; these models date from about 1859.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1859
- maker
- Holbrook School Apparatus Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1986.1025.01
- accession number
- 1986.1025
- catalog number
- 1986.1025.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pencil-Multiplier, a Multiplication Table
- Description
- Inventors have arranged multiplication tables on cylinders and on discs to ease use. This set of tables is designed to fit over the end of a pencil.
- Near the top of this red pencil, just below the eraser, is a table of multiples of the numbers from 13 to 24 by the numbers 1 through 12. A metal cap numbered from 13 to 24 fits over the table at the top. A rotating metal cylinder fits into the cap, and is numbered 1 to 12 around the top. There is a small window in the cylinder below each of these numbers; the distance of the hole from the top varies with the size of the number. The “1” hole reveals multiples of 1 in the table, the “2” hole multiples of 2, etc. To find, say, 15 times 9, one sets the 9 column of the cylinder under the 15 of the cap and reads off 135.
- A mark on the rotating cylinder reads: CHICAGO RECORDING SCALE CO. (/) WAUKEGAN. ILL. (/) PAT. PENDING. A mark on the pencil reads: U.S.A. SOUTHERN CROSS - No 2502.
- The Chicago Recording Scale Company was in business in Waukegan, Illinois, from at least 1895 until at least 1910. I have seen no patent assigned to the company that corresponds to this object. The drawings for U.S. patent 613,432 for an improvement in pencil-boxes show something somewhat similar to this device, although the numbers included and the arrangement of windows is different. That patent was taken out by Stanislas Szenhak of “Warshaw, Russia,” and assigned to Julius Witkowski of Yokohama, Japan. Szenhak applied for a patent on August 19, 1898, and received it November 1, 1898. He also obtained a patent in Great Britain, where his invention was called a “toy for teaching arithmetic.”
- This example of the device was given to the Museum by John William Christopher Draper and James Christopher Draper. Several objects in this gift were once the property of the New York meteorologist Daniel Draper, who took an active interest in the improvement of calculating instruments.
- References:
- Stanislas Szenhak, “Pencil-box,” U.S. Patent 613432, November 1, 1898.
- P. A. Kidwell, “American scientists and calculating machines: from novelty to commonplace,” Annals of the History of Computing, 12, 1990, pp. 31–40.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1900
- maker
- Chicago Recording Scale Company
- ID Number
- MA*335350
- catalog number
- 335350
- accession number
- 304826
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Felsenthal FAE-19A Artillery Protractor
- Description
- While many protractors simply measure angles in degrees, others have been adapted for more specialized contexts. For instance, they may be combined with other drawing instruments, such as rulers or templates for flow chart components. Or, they may make measurements in other scales for angles, such as radians. Before computerized and satellite navigation equipment was in wide use, protractors were employed in military applications, including positioning artillery.
- Thus, this clear plastic protractor, which is in the shape of a sixth-circle, permitted the user to plot the distance traveled by a projectile from the time that elapsed before the sound of the projectile was heard. The outer edge of the protractor's arc is divided by hundredths and marked by tenths from +3.4 to +0.1 (in black print) and from -0.1 to -3.4 (in red print). The scale is labeled: TIME INTERVAL, SECONDS and MIDPOINTS FOR 4-SECOND SUB-BASE, 1/25000.
- A scale marked DEGREES is further inside the arc. It is divided by minutes and marked by fives from 55° to 0°. Finally, a scale for MILS is divided by tens and marked by hundreds from 1000 to 100. 1000 mils is equivalent to 56.25°. A scale for THOUSANDS OF YARDS 1/25000 is along the right edge of the protractor. It is divided by five-hundredths and marked by ones from 14 to 1.
- The maker's mark is near the vertex: 4 SOUND SECONDS (/) FELSENTHAL INSTRUMENTS CO. (/) MFR'S PART NO. FAE-19A (/) MFR'S CODE 22040.
- The Felsenthal Instruments Company was the leading supplier of mathematical instruments to the U.S. Army Air Force and the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, particularly during World War II (when the firm was known as G. Felsenthal & Sons). After the company ceased operations in approximately 1976, it provided a large sample of its products to the Smithsonian.
- See also 1977.1141.02, 1977.1141.03, 1977.1141.05, 1977.1141.08, 1977.1141.09, 1977.1141.10, 1977.1141.11, 1977.1141.12, 1977.1141.18, 1977.1141.19, 1977.1141.20, 1977.1141.21, 1977.1141.22, 1977.1141.23, 1977.1141.24, 1977.1141.30, and 1977.1141.39.
- Reference: Deborah J. Warner, “Browse by Maker: Felsenthal,” National Museum of American History Physical Sciences Collection: Navigation, http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/navigation/maker.cfm?makerid=173.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date attributed by donor
- 1950
- date made
- 1970s
- maker
- Felsenthal Instrument Co.
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.01
- accession number
- 1977.1141
- catalog number
- 336385
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Felsenthal FAE-19B Artillery Protractor
- Description
- This clear plastic sixth-circle protractor is divided along its outer edge by hundredths and marked by tenths from +1.7 to +0.1 (in black print) and from -0.1 to -3.4 (in red print). The scale is labeled: TIME INTERVAL, SECONDS. The left edge of the protractor is divided by tens and marked by hundreds from 2000 to 600. The scale is labeled: LENGTH OF SUB-BASE, YARDS. The right edge of the protractor is divided by halves and marked by ones from 14 to 1. The scale is labeled: THOUSANDS OF YARDS (/) 1/25000.
- The interior of the protractor is filled with diagonal lines. Three scales are among the diagonal lines, each numbered by tenths in black and in red print. The outermost is numbered from 3.9 to 0.1; the middle scale is numbered from 3.0 to 0.1; and the innermost is numbered from 2.2 to 0.1.
- The maker's mark is near the vertex, which is notched: 2 SOUND SECONDS (/) TEMPLATE, 1/25000 (/) FELSENTHAL INSTRUMENTS CO. (/) MFR'S PART NO. FAE-19B (/) MFR'S CODE 22040. There is a large plus sign to the right of the maker's mark.
- The Chicago firm that manufactured this protractor was known as Felsenthal Instruments Co. in the 1960s and 1970s. Ben Wharton Rau (1904–1995) and his wife, Margery Felsenthal Rau (1916–2010), arranged the donation of this object and many other instruments to the Smithsonian. Margery's father, Irving (1887–1956), was one of the "Sons" of G. Felsenthal & Sons, as the company was known in the 1940s and 1950s. Margery's grandfather, Gabe Felsenthal, founded the firm in 1899.
- Ben Rau worked for the Felsenthals. His duties included touring military facilities with a large display of the company's products. He catalogued hundreds of instruments when the company went out of business in 1976. He dated this protractor and 1977.1141.01 to 1950. While the form was indeed probably older, the maker's name on the instrument indicates it was manufactured in the 1960s or 1970s. Rau also held patents on a collapsible film reel, a proportional divider, and a belt buckle assembly.
- See also 1977.1141.01, 1977.1141.03, 1977.1141.05, 1977.1141.08, 1977.1141.09, 1977.1141.10, 1977.1141.11, 1977.1141.12, 1977.1141.18, 1977.1141.19, 1977.1141.20, 1977.1141.21, 1977.1141.22, 1977.1141.23, 1977.1141.24, 1977.1141.30, and 1977.1141.39.
- References: Deborah J. Warner, “Browse by Maker: Felsenthal,” National Museum of American History Physical Sciences Collection: Navigation, http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/navigation/maker.cfm?makerid=173; "Irving G. Felsenthal," Chicago Tribune, February 26, 1956, http://www.susaneking.com/genealogy/showsource.php?sourceID=S01752&tree=GreenebaumSam; Copyright Office, Library of Congress, "Books and Pamphlets," Catalog of Copyright Entries, 3rd ser., 16, part 1, no. 2 (1964): 1392; Ben W. Rau, "Collapsible Film Reel" (U.S. Patent 3,447,759 issued June 3, 1969), "Proportional Divider" (U.S. Patent D214,399 issued June 10, 1969), "Belt Buckle Assembly" (U.S. Patent 3,475,797 issued November 4, 1969).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date attributed by donor
- 1950
- date made
- 1970s
- maker
- Felsenthal Instrument Co.
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.02
- accession number
- 1977.1141
- catalog number
- 336386
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Felsenthal Range Deflection Protractor
- Description
- This clear plastic sixth-circle protractor is graduated into 10 groups of 20 divisions, each labeled with the number 50. The unit of angular measure is mils, which was utilized in artillery applications. There are 6,400 mils in a circle (i.e., 1 mil = 0.05625 degrees). The arc on this instrument is 1,000 mils, or 56.25 degrees, in length.
- An arm extends from the left side of the protractor. The arm is divided to half-units and marked by five (scaled) meters from 160 to 10. Two holes with diameters of 5mm are next to the 145–140 and 30–25 marks. The vertex of the protractor bears a small notch.
- The interior of the protractor is marked: PROTRACTOR, RANGE DEFLECTION (/) SCALE 1:25,000 (/) RANGE 16,000 (/) METERS. Stamped inside a box is the text: THIS TRAINING AID WILL BE RETURNED (/) TO THE FIELD ARTILLERY SCHOOL (/) UPON COMPLETION OF THE SUB-COURSE (/) WITH WHICH ISSUED. Donor Ben Rau dated the instrument to 1965.
- See also 1977.1141.01, 1977.1141.02, 1977.1141.05, 1977.1141.08, 1977.1141.09, 1977.1141.10, 1977.1141.11, 1977.1141.12, 1977.1141.18, 1977.1141.19, 1977.1141.20, 1977.1141.21, 1977.1141.22, 1977.1141.23, 1977.1141.24, 1977.1141.30, and 1977.1141.39.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965
- maker
- Felsenthal Instrument Co.
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.03
- accession number
- 1977.1141
- catalog number
- 336387
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Felsenthal FAE-28 Artillery Protractor
- Description
- This clear plastic circular protractor is divided by tenths and marked by ones from 1 to 63. In the 48-64 quadrant, it is also marked in red print by ones from 32 to 17. The scale is labeled: AZIMUTH-MILS (100). The interior of the 16–32 quadrant is cut out. Each of the straight sides bears a scale divided by fifties and marked by thousands from 0 to 4,000. The scales are labeled: METERS RF 1: 50,000.
- An arm extending from the 0-16 quadrant is divided by tenths and marked by ones from 1 to 17. The scale is labeled: RANGE METERS (1000). The interior of the 32–48 quadrant bears a maker's mark: FELSENTHAL INSTRUMENTS CO. (/) MFR'S CODE 22040 (/) MFR'S PART NO. FAE-28. The protractor was used to predict the direction and distance of artillery rounds. Donor Ben Rau wrote "Massengale" (which may refer to a particular U.S. Army officer) on the tag he provided with this instrument, and he dated the object to 1966.
- See also 1977.1141.01, 1977.1141.02, 1977.1141.03, 1977.1141.08, 1977.1141.09, 1977.1141.10, 1977.1141.11, 1977.1141.12, 1977.1141.18, 1977.1141.19, 1977.1141.20, 1977.1141.21, 1977.1141.22, 1977.1141.23, 1977.1141.24, 1977.1141.30, and 1977.1141.39.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date attributed by donor
- 1966
- maker
- Felsenthal Instrument Co.
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.05
- accession number
- 1977.1141
- catalog number
- 336389
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center