Wire Model of Richard P. Baker, Lines of a Clebsch Diagonal Surface with Tetrahderal Symmetry, Baker #366
name: label: maker
content: Baker, Richard P.
notes: label: Description
content: This geometric model was constructed by Richard P. Baker, probably in the 1920s while he was Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Iowa. Baker believed that models were essential for the teaching of many parts of mathematics and physics, and over one hundred of his models are in the museum collections.
label: Description
content: It appears to be part of a series of models Baker made relating to Clebsch’s diagonal surface that are listed on page 10 of his 1931 catalog of models Model 367 is the first model in this section and described as a plaster cast model with the title “Tetrahedral symmetry. 24 finite lines.” While model 367 is not among the models in the Smithsonian collections, there is a second, wire model that Baker dubbed Model 366 and entitled “The lines of 367”
label: Description
content: This object appears to be an example of that model. It has twenty-four wire line segments (three others are infinitely far away and hence not shown) and tetrahedral symmetry. See also MA.211257.054.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: R. P. Baker, <I>Mathematical Models</I>, Iowa City, Iowa, 1931, p. 10.
label: Description
content: David E. Rowe, <I>A Richer Picture of Mathematics: The Göttingen Tradition and Beyond</I>, Springer, 2018, pp.70-74.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Frances E. Baker
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.211257.055
label: accession number
content: 211257
label: catalog number
content: 211257.055
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Geometric Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: beige (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: soldered (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 22.3 cm x 25.8 cm x 24.3 cm; 8 25/32 in x 10 5/32 in x 9 9/16 in