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Alexander Graham Bell’s Tetrahedral Kites (1903–9)

Adam Green - June 19, 2017 in abstract, alexander graham bell, early flight, flight, flying, geometry, inventors, kites, Tetrahedral Kite

The wonderful imagery documenting Alexander Graham Bell's experiments with tetrahedral kites.

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Max Brückner’s Collection of Polyhedral Models (1900)

Adam Green - June 21, 2016 in Escher, geometry, mathematics, maths, Max Brückner, models

Collection of stellated and uniform polyhedra belonging to Max Brückner , a German geometer.

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Max Brückner’s Collection of Polyhedral Models (1900)

Adam Green - June 21, 2016 in Escher, geometry, mathematics, maths, Max Brückner, models

Collection of stellated and uniform polyhedra belonging to Max Brückner , a German geometer.

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Max Brückner’s Collection of Polyhedral Models (1900)

Adam Green - June 21, 2016 in Escher, geometry, mathematics, maths, Max Brückner, models

Collection of stellated and uniform polyhedra belonging to Max Brückner , a German geometer.

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Notes on the Fourth Dimension

Adam Green - October 28, 2015 in 4D, Books, charles howard hinton, Featured Articles, flatland, fourth dimension, geometry, ghosts, hinton cube, hyperspace, mathematical fiction, mathematics, maths, Philosophy, physics, Science & Medicine, spirits, spiritualism, tesseract

Hyperspace, ghosts, and colourful cubes - Jon Crabb on the work of Charles Howard Hinton and the cultural history of higher dimensions.

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Redressing the Balance: Levinus Vincent’s Wonder Theatre of Nature

Adam Green - August 20, 2014 in Art & Illustrations, cabinet of curiosities, cabinet of curiosity, geometry, levinus vincent, nature, pattern, prelapserian, Science & Medicine, silk, wonder theatre of nature, Wondertooneel der Nature, wunderkammer

Bert van de Roemer explores the curiosity cabinets of the Dutch collector Levinus Vincent and how the aesthetic drive behind his meticulous ordering of the contents was in essence religious, an attempt to emphasise the wonder of God's creations by restoring the natural world to its prelapsarian harmony.

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The Tibetan Book of Proportions

Adam Green - March 11, 2014 in buddha, buddhism, geometry, nepal, proportion, tibet

An eighteenth-century pattern book consisting of 36 ink drawings showing precise…

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The Tibetan Book of Proportions

Adam Green - March 11, 2014 in buddha, buddhism, geometry, nepal, proportion, tibet

An eighteenth-century pattern book consisting of 36 ink drawings showing precise…

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Jehan Cousin’s Livre de Pourtraiture (1608)

Adam Green - February 11, 2013 in anatomy, collections, geometry, Images, Images-16th, Images-17th, Images-Engraving-Line, Images-People, Images-Science, proportion, the body

Selected images from a 1608 edition of Livre de Pourtraiture by Jehan Cousin the Younger (ca. 1522–1595), son of of the famous painter and sculptor Jehan Cousin the Elder (ca. 1490-ca. 1560) who was often compared to his contemporary, Albrecht Dürer. Just before his death, Jehan the Elder published his noted work Livre de Perspective in 1560 in which he noted that his son would soon be publishing a companion entitled, Livre de Pourtraiture. While there have been some reports that an edition of Livre de Pourtraiture was fist printed in 1571 and again in 1589, no copies appear to exist. Instead, the most likely first printing of the work was 1595 in Paris by David Leclerc, with woodcuts engraved by Jean Leclerc, just after Jehan Cousin the Younger’s death. The book is one of the most famous on the subject of artistic anatomy and was printed again and again into the late 17th century. (All images from the U.S. National Library of Medicine). DONATE NOW TO SAVE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW! With our initial funding now come to an end, we need your support to help us continue our mission – to promote the public domain as an indispensable [...]

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Illustrations of Snowflakes (1863)

Adam Green - December 4, 2012 in collections, geometry, ice crystal, Images, Images-19th, Images-Science, snow, snowflakes, winter

The illustrative plates from Snowflakes: a Chapter from the Book of Nature (1863), a collection of poems, extracts, anecdotes and reflections on the theme of snow and the snowflake. According to the preface of the book, apart from the first few geometrical figures at the top of the first plate, which show the primary geo- metrical forms under which the snow-vapor crystalizes, all the other forms shown are “representations of individual crystals, actually observed and sketched with the aid of the microscope”. See the full book, including various poems and extracts from literature related to snow, here in our Texts collection. For some more snowflake related content have a look at Keith C. Heidorn’s article on Wilson Bentley, “The Snowflake Man of Vermont”. (All images taken from the book Snowflakes: a chapter from the Book of Nature (1863) which is housed at the Internet Archive, contributed by the California Digital Library). Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!

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