Geometric Model, L. Brill No. 140. Ser. 2 No. 8a, Surface of Revolution (Onduloid)
date: label: date made
content: 1892
name: label: maker
content: L. Brill
notes: label: Description
content: In 1877, Ludwig Brill published three models of surfaces of revolution of constant mean curvature (one in two parts). They were designed by A. von Braunmühl (1853-1908), a student and later teacher of mathematics in Munich who would become a well-known historian of mathematics. These were among the first plaster models Brill published, and were casts after models in the technical institute in Munich where Braunmühl studied, carried out under the direction of Alexander Brill. This model, the first in the group, shows a surface called an onduloid or unduloid. It has a round bottom, curves inward, bulges outward at the center, curves inward again, and then curves out to a flat round top. A paper tag reads: 140. Another paper tag reads: Rotationsfl. const. mittl. Krümmung. (/) Verl. v. L. Brill. 2. Ser. Nr. VIIIa. This example was exhibited at the Columbia Exposition held in Chicago in 1893 and then acquired by Wesleyan University.
label: Description
content: Fischer discusses the mathematics of these surfaces of constant mean curvature. D’Arcy W. Thompson describes the generation of such surfaces. If an ellipse rolls along a straight line, each of its foci moves in an undulating curve. Rotating one of these curves about the straight line gives the onduloid or unduloid.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: L. Brill, <I>Catalog mathematischer Modelle. . .</I>, Darmstadt: L. Brill,1892, p. 5, 83. This catalog indicates there were four models in series. The two parts of the nodoid are listed separately.
label: Description
content: [Advertisement], “Models Manufactured by L. Brill in Darmstadt,” <I>American Journal of Mathematics</I>, vol. XI, no. 3, April, 1889, end pages.
label: Description
content: G. Fischer, <I>Mathematical Models: Commentary</I>, Braunschweig / Wiesbaden: Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, 1986, pp. 47-48.
label: Description
content: D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, <I>On Growth and Form</I>, I, Cambridge: University Press, 1963, pp. 367-369.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Germany: Hesse, Darmstadt
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Wesleyan University
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1985.0112.099
label: catalog number
content: 1985.0112.099
label: accession number
content: 1985.0112
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Geometric Model
label: Object Name
content: geometric model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plaster (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 26 cm x 12 cm x 12 cm; 10 1/4 in x 4 23/32 in x 4 23/32 in