Accession No

5175

Brief Description

mathematical string model, form was devised by Christian Weiner, by Martin Schilling, German, late 19th century

Origin

Germany; Halle

Maker

Martin Schilling

Class

mathematics; demonstration

Earliest Date

1875

Latest Date

1900

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass); thread (silk)

Dimensions

height 220mm; width 215mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Tesseract Catalogue 57. Tesseract, Box 151, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York 10706, USA from 16/07/1997.

Inscription

on a paper label on the top
‘Regelflach 3. Grades (1.Fall.)’
‘18. Serie, Nr. 1.’
‘V**l v. Martin Schilling, Halle a* S’

possibly ‘Halle am Salle’

Description Notes

Mathematical string model, by Martin Schilling, German, late 19th century

On a paper label on the top:
‘Regelflach 3. Grades (1.Fall.)’ ‘18. Serie, Nr. 1.’‘V**l v. Martin Schilling, Halle a* S’.

Made of a framework of chemically darkened brass laced with thread (string) of five colours (grass green, claret, gold, bronze and silver green). Only a few threads missing. One colour for one family of lines representing one complex three dimensional surface. These surfaces intersect and pass through each other.

The form was devised by Professor Chr. Weiner, circa 1890, and constructed by the Verlag Martin Schilling in Halle am Salle (which took over the firm of L. Brill in Darmstadt).

Complete.

References

Events

Description
Making mathematical models was an integral part of a mathematician’s research in the late nineteenth century. The practice of constructing mathematical models (like this string model) originated with Gaspard Monge (1746–1818) who invented descriptive geometry, which represented three-dimensional surfaces in two dimensions. He also worked at classifying ruled surfaces. In modeling, tightly stretched strings following the path of a generated line best described a ruled surface according to Monge. He and his student Théodore Olivier (1793–1853) designed and built such models. This model was produced in the late nineteenth century by the German firm Martin Schilling who made models produced by mathematicians commercially available. Its form was devised by Professor Christian Weiner (1826–1896) near the end of his life.

11/03/2014
Created by: Allison Ksiazkiewicz on 11/03/2014

FM:41639