Geometric Model, Cube
date: label: date made
content: 1990s
name: label: maker
content: Benson, Harold Walter
notes: label: Description
content: This is a wooden model of a cube. 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 cube, which has six square faces that meet at right angles.
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. Making models that are both accurate and artistic has appealed to amateurs for well over a century. They have formed geometric solids from a host of materials; including paper, plastic, wood and metal.
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: 1999.0130.01
label: catalog number
content: 1999.0130.01
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: 5.5 cm x 5.5 cm x 5.5 cm; 2 5/32 in x 2 5/32 in x 2 5/32 in