The collection of machines at the Laboratory of the University Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics, focused on mathematics and geometry, was primarily formed for educational purposes, aiming to “test” and “translate” theorems, proofs, models, and mathematical problems into concrete and physically perceptible terms, whose abstraction makes their perception and understanding complex. The construction of the instruments was inspired by suggestions and descriptions from reference technical-scientific literature, covering a time span from Euclidean geometry to the grand 19th-century geometry, passing through the relationship between mathematics and mechanics established from the 16th century onwards to the present day. Most of the machines date back to the 16th-19th centuries, but there are also “virtual” instruments, simulations, and animations. Other models address problems that have long attracted the attention of scholars and artists, such as projections, perspective, and anamorphosis.
Information about the Mathematical Machines Laboratory
Via G.Campi, 213/b,
41121 Modena (Modena)
0592055039
macchine@unimore.it
https://www.mmlab.unimore.it
Source: MIBACT
