Object Details
- Benson, Harold Walter
- Description
- 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 The Elements, 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.
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Katherine B. Benson
- 1990s
- ID Number
- 1999.0130.01
- catalog number
- 1999.0130.01
- accession number
- 1999.0130
- Object Name
- Geometric Model
- Physical Description
- wood (overall material)
- Measurements
- 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
- place made
- United States: South Carolina, Clemson
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Record ID
- nmah_694520
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-121d-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
