Geometric Model, L. Brill No. 113. Ser. 10.2 No. 30a, Surface of Revolution
Geometric Model, L. Brill No. 113. Ser. 10.2 No. 30a, Surface of Revolution
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- Description
- In 1881, Gottlieb Herting, then a student in the technical high school in Munich where he worked under the direction of Alexander Brill, designed a set of eleven plaster models of surfaces of revolution. Herting would spend the rest of his career teaching mathematics and physics at an advanced high school (gymnasium) in Augsburg. The models would be published by Ludwig Brill of Darmstadt in 1885 as his Series 10, 30 (lettered a through l and given Brill numbers 113 to 123). A twelfth model in the series was by another Brill student, Sievert. This is letter “a” in that series. This example was exhibited at the German Educational Exhibit at the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, where it was purchased by Wesleyan University.
- The model shows the surface of rotation of a parabola rotated about a tangent to its turning point. It has two symmetric pieces that are images of one another, round at one end and approaching to a point. Two metal bars that hold the surfaces together. One of these is broken off, so the model has been photographed lying on its side. Curves drawn on the surface are asymptotic curves, that is to say curves where the curvature is zero. A tag on the model reads: Rotat.-Fl. m. Asympt.-(Hpttgt.-)Curve (/) Verl. v. L. Brill. 10. Ser. 2 Nchtr. Nr. XXXa.
- References:
- Ludwig Brill, Catalog mathematischer Modelle..., Darmstadt: L. Brill, 1892, p. 21,78.
- J. C. Poggendorff, J.C. Poggendorffs biographisch-literarisches Handwörterbuch zur Geschichte der exacten Wissenschaften..., vol. 4, Barth, 1904, p. 626.
- Angela Vierling-Claasen, Mathematical Models at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007, pp. 91-92. This document is available online.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- Geometric Model
- geometric model
- date made
- 1892
- maker
- L. Brill
- place made
- Germany: Hesse, Darmstadt
- Physical Description
- metal (overall material)
- paper (overall material)
- plaster (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 17 cm x 11 cm x 11 cm; 6 11/16 in x 4 11/32 in x 4 11/32 in
- ID Number
- 1985.0112.078
- catalog number
- 1985.0112.078
- accession number
- 1985.0112
- Credit Line
- Gift of Wesleyan University
- subject
- Mathematics
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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