Geometric Model, L. Brill No. 148 g Ser. 10 No. 1g, Minimal Surface

Geometric Model, L. Brill No. 148 g Ser. 10 No. 1g, Minimal Surface

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Description
Students at the technical high school in Munich, working under the direction of Alexander Brill, developed a series of wire models of minimal surfaces that was first published by Ludwig Brill in 1885. A minimal surface is the surface of smallest area of all the surfaces bounded by a closed curve in space. Its mean curvature is zero. Minimal surfaces are often represented by soap films, as was the intention with this model. This, the seventh model in the series, is in the shape of a cube. A handle is attached to a wire joining the midpoints of two opposite sides.
This example was exhibited at the Columbian Exposition, a world’s fair held in Chicago in 1893.
References:
L. Brill, Catalog mathematischer Modelle..., Darmstadt: L. Brill,1892, p. 21, 85.
G. Fischer, Mathematical Models: Commentary, Braunschweig / Wiesbaden: Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, 1986, pp. 41-43.
H.A. Schwarz, Bestimmung einer speciellen Minimalfläche, Berlin: F. Dümmler's Verlags-Buchhandlung, 1871. This source is mentioned in Brill’s catalog.
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)
Measurements
overall: 18.2 cm x 7.3 cm x 7.3 cm; 7 5/32 in x 2 7/8 in x 2 7/8 in
ID Number
1985.0112.112
catalog number
1985.0112.112
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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