70 The Collection of Mathematical Models matical topics, in particular for those related to engineering geometry. Here, they are still popular as didactic and visual aids, which explains the decision to house the Collection at the Institute of Geometry. Models in the early days of the Technical School in Dresden The original collection of the Technical College of Dresden and the related documents were destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in February 1945. As a consequence, we have little information about its early history. Since World War II, various actors have gradually rebuilt today’s collection, partly collating it from bequests. This explains its somewhat “patchy” nature compared to other universities, such as Göttingen, Tokyo or Boston, while at the same time it contains numerous recent models. Despite the devastating caesura of 1945, some of the Dresden Collection’s unique specimens of historic value from the 19th century have been preserved. The models therefore have a particular significance for the history of science that goes well beyond their function as a collection of teaching aids. When evaluating the pertinence of mathematical models in the early days of the Technical School in Dresden, the first thing to consider are its antecedents. The most prominent of these was the École Polytechnique in Paris, founded in 1794, which served as a prototype for the polytechnic schools in Germany. In Paris, one of the founding fathers was Gaspard Monge, whose groundbreaking work Géométrie descriptive standardized the use of engineering drawing in the technical subjects. This explains why scientifically correct illustration based on geometry – known as descriptive geometry – has been a core element of teaching in Dresden from the very beginning. The success of the Technical School in Dresden resulted from the combination of scientific mechanical engineering based on the French model with the English principle of practical trial. Inspired by the Berlin pioneer Christian Beuth, models and English machines were procured that served as templates for replicas. These were also used for the purposes of modeling as well as machine and freehand drawing. The existence of purely mathematical models, however, cannot be verified for the early years. It is noteworthy, though, that Wilhelm Gotthelf Lohrmann, the first head of the Technical School, was also chief inspector of the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon in the Zwinger. In this respect, there is a strong personal connection between the first location of the School, a pavilion on the Brühl Terrace, to a collection of mathematical instruments that is unique worldwide. Arriving in Dresden in early 1849, the first mathematical models were a constituent of descriptive geometry and came from the French mathematician Théodore Olivier, who was a Movable model of a hyperbolic paraboloid Presumably made around 1849 under the guidance of Théodore Olivier in Paris. Brass and threads
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