Object Details
- Baker, Richard P.
- Description
- This geometric model was made by Richard P. Baker in the early twentieth century when he was on the faculty in mathematics at the University of Iowa. Baker believed that models were essential for the teaching of many parts of mathematics and physics, and over 100 of his models are in the museum collections.
- The model has a wooden base painted black, with a painted metal wire extending up for the base. Two metal pieces that would attach to this support are disconnected. A mark reads: No. 436 (/) Normal Planes, Chord of Screw .
- Baker built nine models to correspond to figures described by the German mathematician Eduard Study in a book on the geometry of dynamics (shortened by Baker to Dynamen). This model is one of them, which he described in his 1931 catalog as representing “normal planes of chord of screw.”
- References:
- Baker, R.P., Mathematical Models, Iowa City, 1931, p. 16.
- Study, E., Geometrie der Dynamen: Die Zusammensetzung von Kräften und Verwandte Gegenstände der Geometrie Bearb., Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1903, esp. p. 18, Fig. 3.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Frances E. Baker
- ca 1906-1935
- ID Number
- MA.211257.087
- accession number
- 211257
- catalog number
- 211257.087
- Object Name
- geometric model
- Physical Description
- beige (overall color)
- black (overall color)
- wood (overall material)
- metal (overall material)
- support bolted through base. (overall production method/technique)
- Measurements
- average spatial: 16.8 cm x 14.2 cm x 14.3 cm; 6 5/8 in x 5 19/32 in x 5 5/8 in
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Record ID
- nmah_1087119
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a9-51f0-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
