Object Details
- teacher of maker
- Wheeler, Albert Harry
- Anderson, R.
- Description
- The Archimedean solids are polyhedra with regular polygons for sides and edges of equal length. For example, this 26-faced model has twelve square sides, eight hexagonal sides, and six octagonal sides. The surface is called a truncated cuboctahedron, a rhombitruncated cuboctahedron, or a great rhombicuboctahedron.
- Archimedean solids were known to the Hellenistic Greek mathematician Archimedes and studied by the 17th-century mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler. This particular example was made from balsa wood by A. Harry Wheeler’s student R. Anderson, and is dated April 15, ’38. It is number 18 in Wheeler’s listing of models.
- For other examples of models of this surface, see MA.304723.063 (plastic) and MA.304723.064 (paper).
- References:
- Magnus J. Wenninger, Polyhedron Models, Cambridge: The University Press, 1971, p. 29.
- A. H. Wheeler, Catalog of Models, A. H. Wheeler Papers, Mathematics Collections, National Museum of American History.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Helen M. Wheeler
- 1938
- ID Number
- MA.304723.065
- accession number
- 304723
- catalog number
- 304723.065
- Object Name
- geometric model
- Physical Description
- wood, balsa (overall material)
- tan (overall color)
- cut and glued (overall production method/technique)
- Measurements
- average spatial: 8 cm x 8 cm x 8 cm; 3 5/32 in x 3 5/32 in x 3 5/32 in
- place made
- United States: Massachusetts, Worcester
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Mathematical Association of America Objects
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Record ID
- nmah_1065401
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a9-13cf-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
