The collection of mathematical models of the Department of Mathematics, Padua University, consists of about 140 items. It is a particularly rich collection when compared with similar collections that you can find in Italy or even abroad. It includes models of chalk, iron, thread and plastic.
The necessity of using models for didactical purposes had been strongly supported by Giuseppe Veronese, a Professor at Padua University and a prominent figure of the mathematical world at his time. Not only was he among the first scholars who began to collect mathematical models, he had also supported the idea - which unfortunately was never accomplished- of building a workshop at the University of Padua where the students of the Faculty of Mathematics and of the School of Applied Engineering could have put their knowledge into practice.
The oldest pieces of the collection were made at the workshop of the Mathematical Institute of the Polytechnic School of Munich, in Bavaria, founded during the 1870s. Some of the models were made of chalk and others of silk thread with a metallic frame. They are described in the Catalog Brill – Schilling.
In the first years of the 19th century, the German mathematician Hermann Wiener made models of chalk and two models of silk thread with a metallic frame, while plastic models, made between the 1860s and 70s, have a mark with the name ‘Gunter Hermann’.
During the 1990s, Professor Franco Palladino carefully studied the collection held at Padua University and then published the volume, “The collection of ancient mathematical instruments and models of Padua University and the initiative of Giuseppe Veronese to create a national Italian workshop”.
After the relocation of the Department in the building called ‘Torre Archimede’, the models were placed in the Library.
In 2007, the models of chalk were restored by the firm Ar.Co. Snc (Archeology and Conservation) of Padua.
In 2018, a further analysis of the models and of the related documents was carried out by Doctor Giulia Nicchio and Professor R.N. Kloosterman. The models made of silk thread and metal were then restored by the same firm as before, so that the restoration of the entire collection was completed.
Since 2021, the models become part of the General Catalog of cultural goods of the MIBACT, thanks to the cataloguing work of Dr. Fanny Marcon, with the collaboration of Professor A. Bertapelle and Professor R.N. Kloostermann.
REFERENCE CATALOGS OF MATHEMATICAL MODELS FOR PADUA COLLECTION
- Catalog Brill-Schilling: It presented the creations of the workshop of design and production of mathematical models, which was in operation from the 1870s at the Polytechnic School of Munich, Bavaria. The workshop had been started by the mathematician Felix Klein and Alexander Brill. The best pieces produced in the workshop were sold by a bookshop founded in 1877 by Ludwig Brill, who was Alexander Brill’s brother. Ludwig began to publish the catalog, which later was published by Martin Schilling, who had bought Ludwig Brill’s firm.
- Verzeichnis Mathematischer Modelle: This catalog was published by B.G. Teubner (the first edition came out in 1905 and the second in 1912). The collection has models created by Hermann Wiener at the beginning of the 19th Century.