Object Details
- Description
- This plaster model consists of four roughly spherical parts attached to one another. It represents a surface of constant positive curvature. More specifically, it is a surface of Enneper of elliptic type. The Enneper surface is a minimal surface (a surface of zero mean curvature) that intersects itself.
- A paper tag on the model reads: 206. Another tag reads: Fläche von const. posit. Krűmm.-Mass [/] mit einem System ebener Krűmm.-Lin. [/] II. Cycl. Typus [/] Verl. v. L. Brill. 17. Ser. Nr. 3b.
- The model was designed for Ludwig Brill by Georg H. L. Sievert in 1886. A student of Alexander Brill in Munich, Sievert spent much of his career teaching mathematics in Nuremberg and Bayreuth.
- This example of the model was exhibited at the German Educational Exhibit at the Columbian Exposition, a World’s Fair held in Chicago in 1893. It there was purchased by Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and subsequently was donated to the Smithsonian.
- References:
- L. Brill, Catalog mathematischer Modelle. . ., Darmstadt: L. Brill,1892, p. 41, 81.
- Accession file.
- http://www.math.rug.nl/models/ - This website displays an example of the model sold somewhat later by Brill’s successor, Martin Schilling. Schilling sold this model as Ser. 17, No. 3.
- G. Fischer, Mathematical Models,vol. I, p. 83 (Photo #87), vol. 2, pp. 38-39.
- 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: 8.5 cm x 14.5 cm x 17.5 cm; 3 11/32 in x 5 23/32 in x 6 7/8 in
- Object Name
- geometric model
- geometric model
