Mathematical Models Collection
The »Sammlung Mathematische Modelle« (Mathematical Models Collection) is one of 40 university collections and comprises over 400 registered objects from the mid-19th century to the present day. The materials used include wood, plaster, cardboard, wire, metal, silk and last but not least 3D prints. The topics range from descriptive and analytical geometry to function theory and three-dimensional fractals.
Among the oldest holdings are the approximately 60 plaster models, which were manufactured in series production beginning in 1877, thirteen string models, which represent developable surfaces, as well as eight projection models, which show spatial curves from about 1886. Some of the most interesting objects in the current holdings can be traced to acquisitions around 1960 from the liquidation of the publisher Martin Schilling in Leipzig. A second large selection of objects comes from the teaching aid production of Rudolf Stoll in Berlin and also dates back to the 1950s and 60s. In 1993, the collection was expanded through the acquisition of TU Berlin’s collection of models. Many models are frequently used as visual models in lectures.
The collection is supervised by Prof. Lordick and can be researched online. The website is part of the project Digital Archive of Mathematical Models (DAMM). During this project, some of the exhibits had been digitized with a 3D scanner.
Link to the website: mathematical-models.org