Model of a Grassmann Current Element by Richard P. Baker, Baker #293
date: label: date made
content: ca 1906-1935
name: label: maker
content: Baker, Richard P.
notes: label: Description
content: The nineteenth century saw a remarkable expansion of knowledge of electricity, including study of the magnetism associated with wires carrying electrical currents. One who wrote on the subject was the German teacher Hermann Grassmann (1809-1877). This is a representation of a current element after the ideas of Grassmann. The model is part of a collection of surfaces prepared by Richard P. Baker, a mathematician at the University of Iowa.
label: Description
content: This particular example of the model was on loan from Baker for exhibition at MIT from 1939 until the mid-1950s. It, along with the other models in accession 211257, came to the Smithsonian from MIT in 1956.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Grassmann, H., “Neue Theorie der Electrodynamik,” Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 1845, vol. 140, pp. 1-18.
label: Description
content: Baker, R.P., Mathematical Models, Iowa City, 1931, p. 18.
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.211257.049
label: accession number
content: 211257
label: catalog number
content: 211257.049
objectType: label: Object Name
content: geometric model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: red (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: soldered (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: .1 cm x 15.6 cm x 15.6 cm; 1/32 in x 6 5/32 in x 6 5/32 in