Object Details
maker
Wheeler, Albert Harry
Description
Massachusetts high school teacher and model maker A. Harry Wheeler built several geometric models that represented the union of intersecting cubes, including this one. The plastic pieces of the model are cut and glued to represent sections of yellow, green, and turquoise cubes.
The model has no maker’s mark, but corresponds to three other models numbered “95.” One of these was made by his student Lois M. Parker in April 1938—it is of balsa wood (see 1979.0102.040). A third version of the model is folded from paper and has only the model number on it (see 1979.0102.043). A fourth version of the model, also folded from paper, has notes in Wheeler’s hand indicating that the model is inscriptible in a cube, a rhombic dodecahedron, a tetrahedron, and an octahedron. These notes are dated 1931 and 1938.
In Wheeler’s handwritten catalog of his models, this model is listed as 95 and also numbered H19, as it was based on a six-sided figure or hexahedron.
Reference:
A. H. Wheeler, Catalog of Models, A. H. Wheeler Papers, Mathematics Collections, National Museum of American History.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Helen M. Wheeler
date made
ca 1935
ID Number
MA.304723.118
accession number
304723
catalog number
304723.118
Object Name
geometric model
Physical Description
plastic (overall material)
blue (overall color)
yellow (overall color)
green (overall color)
cut and glued (overall production method/technique)
Measurements
average spatial: 10.2 cm x 16 cm x 12 cm; 4 1/32 in x 6 5/16 in x 4 23/32 in
place made
United States: Massachusetts, Worcester
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Science & Mathematics
Mathematical Association of America Objects
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1065757