Geometric Model, Tetrahedron
date: label: date made
content: 1990s
name: label: maker
content: Benson, Harold Walter
notes: label: Description
content: This is a wooden model of the skeleton of a tetrahedron. From ancient times, mathematicians have sought to describe and enumerated many-sided figures known as polyhedra. In <I>The Elements</I>, a classic textbook on geometry, the Greek mathematician Euclid showed that there are only five uniform convex polyhedra. Uniform polyhedra have identical faces and angles. Any two points on a convex polyhedron many be joined by a line that is entirely inside the polyhedron. One of the most familiar uniform convex polyhedron is the tetrahedron, which has four faces that are equilateral triangles.This model has a triangular hole at the center of each face.
label: Description
content: Some hobbyists enjoy figuring out how to make attractive models of geometric surfaces that have long been known. Harold Walter Benson, a machinist from Chicago, made numerous geometric models in the 1990s, when he was retired and living in South Carolina.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: South Carolina, Clemson
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 Katherine B. Benson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1999.0130.02
label: catalog number
content: 1999.0130.02
label: accession number
content: 1999.0130
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Geometric Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12.5 cm x 14.5 cm x 12.5 cm; 4 29/32 in x 5 23/32 in x 4 29/32 in