Geometric Model by G. A. Barnard III, a Student of A. Harry Wheeler, Spherical Triangle
Geometric Model by G. A. Barnard III, a Student of A. Harry Wheeler, Spherical Triangle
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- Description
- This folded, cut, and glued brown paper model shows a spherical triangle. It is made up of three adjacent circular sectors centered at the center of the sphere. Holes are cut in the sectors, as in other Wheeler models, but there are no pieces that fit in the holes. It seems likely the model is now incomplete.
- A signature reads: G. A. Barnard 3d (/) 5/4 1938.
- A radio enthusiast named George Barnard graduated from North High School in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1938. A radio enthusiast named George Augustus Barnard III (1921-2015) from Worcester, Massachusetts, graduated from Exeter in 1939, having spent one year there. According to an obituary, this second Barnard went on to study electrical engineering at Harvard College, obtaining an accelerated bachelor’s degree in 1942. He then entered the U.S. Army, working on radar. Barnard would earn a master’s in electrical engineering from Stanford and then “spent several years performing aero-magnetic surveys for oil in Venezuela, Colombia, India, and Peru; participated in the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) effort to create the world's first commercial computer (for Bank of America); and worked at Ampex (tape recorders), Philco/Ford (Gemini and Apollo space programs), Boeing, and Weyerhaeuser.” It seems likely that the two Barnards are one and the same man, the maker of this model.
- References:
- North High School yearbooks.
- Online obituary of George Augustus Barnard III, Cascade memorial, accessed February 12, 2016.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- Geometric Model
- date made
- 1938 05 04
- teacher
- Wheeler, Albert Harry
- maker
- Barnard III, G. A.
- place made
- United States: Massachusetts, Worcester
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- brown (overall color)
- cut and glued (overall production method/technique)
- Measurements
- average spatial: 7.6 cm x 12.5 cm x 10 cm; 3 in x 4 29/32 in x 3 15/16 in
- ID Number
- MA.304723.481
- accession number
- 304723
- catalog number
- 304723.481
- Credit Line
- Gift of Helen M. Wheeler
- subject
- Mathematics
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Trigonometry
- Spherical Trigonometry
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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