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 m and given Brill numbers 113 to 123). This is letter “e” in that series. A twelfth model, m in the series (number 124) was designed by Sievert.
This example was exhibited at the German Educational Exhibit at the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, where it was purchased by Wesleyan University.
The plaster model shows the surface of revolution of the curve z = 6 log r. In this example, a round base rises toward a peak that is broken off. A metal rod extends beyond the top of the plaster. Curves drawn on the surface are asymptotic curves, that is to say curves where the curvature is zero. A paper tag on the model reads: 117. Another paper tag reads: Rotat.-Fl. m. Asympt.-(Hpttgt.-) Curven. (/) Verl. v. L. Brill. 10 Ser. 2. Nachtr. Nr. XXXe.
References:
Ludwig Brill, Catalog mathematischer Modelle. . ., Darmstadt: L. Brill, 1892, p. 21,78-79.
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. 99-100. This document is available online.
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