Object Details
- 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 designed by another Brill student, Sievert. This is letter “i” 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 plaster model shows the surface of revolution of the curve z3 = a3 (r – a)2 about a parallel to the z-axis. The model rises to a circle and then descends within it. Various asymptotic curves are indicated. In this example, the top edge is not smooth.
- References:
- Ludwig Brill, Catalog mathematischer Modelle. . ., Darmstadt: L. Brill, 1892, p. 22,76.
- J. C. Poggendorff, J.C. Poggendorffs biographisch-literarisches Handwörterbuch zur Geschichte der exacten Wissenschaften . . ., vol. 4, Barth, 1904, p. 626.
- “Asymptotic Curves,” website of the Mathematical Institute, Oxford University, accessed September 5, 2017.
- Angela Vierling-Claasen, Mathematical Models at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007, pp. 95-96. This document is available online.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- maker
- L. Brill
- date made
- 1892
- Credit Line
- Gift of Wesleyan University
- Physical Description
- plaster (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 12 cm x 15 cm x 15 cm; 4 23/32 in x 5 29/32 in x 5 29/32 in
- Object Name
- Geometric Model
- geometric model
