The German Karl Rohn (1855-1920) intended to become an engineer, but found the mathematical part of his studies at the polytechnic in Darmstadt more intriguing. He studied mathematics with Alexander von Brill and Felix Klein in Munich, and went on to a career as a professor of mathematics in Leipzig and Dresden.
In 1886 and again in 1892, Rohn published sets of string models with the publisher and mathematical model distributor Ludwig Brill. Several models from the first set, Brill’s Series XIII, were exhibited at the Columbian Exposition, a world’s fair held in Chicago in 1893. This is one of them, number 8 in the series.
Two sides of the black metal frame are alike, two sides are partially mirror images, and the top and bottom are partially mirror images of one another. The model presently lacks strings.
Reference:
L. Brill, Catalog mathematischer Modelle. . ., Darmstadt: L. Brill,1892, pp. 27-28, 69.
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