{"title":"“Knowledge gained by experience”: Olaus Henrici—engineer, geometer and maker of mathematical models","authors":"June Barrow-Green","doi":"10.1016/j.hm.2020.10.003","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The German mathematician Olaus Henrici,<span><sup>1</sup></span> who was born in Denmark in 1840, studied engineering and mathematics in Germany before making his career in London. Initially, and for only a short time, he worked in an engineering business. He subsequently took on academic positions, first at University College London and then, from 1884, at the newly formed Central Institution (later Central Technical College) where he established a Laboratory of Mechanics. While at University College he became an active promoter of pure geometry and a producer of models of surfaces. In this paper I explore the geometrical side of Henrici's work, setting it into the context of his career and arguing that his interdisciplinary background was a key factor in his success as a creator of models.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51061,"journal":{"name":"Historia Mathematica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2021-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.hm.2020.10.003","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Historia Mathematica","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0315086020300744","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
The German mathematician Olaus Henrici,1 who was born in Denmark in 1840, studied engineering and mathematics in Germany before making his career in London. Initially, and for only a short time, he worked in an engineering business. He subsequently took on academic positions, first at University College London and then, from 1884, at the newly formed Central Institution (later Central Technical College) where he established a Laboratory of Mechanics. While at University College he became an active promoter of pure geometry and a producer of models of surfaces. In this paper I explore the geometrical side of Henrici's work, setting it into the context of his career and arguing that his interdisciplinary background was a key factor in his success as a creator of models.
期刊介绍：
Historia Mathematica publishes historical scholarship on mathematics and its development in all cultures and time periods. In particular, the journal encourages informed studies on mathematicians and their work in historical context, on the histories of institutions and organizations supportive of the mathematical endeavor, on historiographical topics in the history of mathematics, and on the interrelations between mathematical ideas, science, and the broader culture.
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