Object Details
maker
Baker, Richard P.
Description
This geometric model was made by Richard P. Baker in the early twentieth century when he was on the faculty in mathematics at the University of Iowa. Baker believed that models were essential for the teaching of many parts of mathematics and physics, and over 100 of his models are in the museum collections.
The model has a wooden base painted black, with a painted metal wire extending up for the base. Two metal pieces that would attach to this support are disconnected. A mark reads: No. 436 (/) Normal Planes, Chord of Screw .
Baker built nine models to correspond to figures described by the German mathematician Eduard Study in a book on the geometry of dynamics (shortened by Baker to Dynamen). This model is one of them, which he described in his 1931 catalog as representing “normal planes of chord of screw.”
References:
Baker, R.P., Mathematical Models, Iowa City, 1931, p. 16.
Study, E., Geometrie der Dynamen: Die Zusammensetzung von Kräften und Verwandte Gegenstände der Geometrie Bearb., Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1903, esp. p. 18, Fig. 3.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Frances E. Baker
date made
ca 1906-1935
ID Number
MA.211257.087
accession number
211257
catalog number
211257.087
Object Name
geometric model
Physical Description
beige (overall color)
black (overall color)
wood (overall material)
metal (overall material)
support bolted through base. (overall production method/technique)
Measurements
average spatial: 16.8 cm x 14.2 cm x 14.3 cm; 6 5/8 in x 5 19/32 in x 5 5/8 in
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1087119