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Descriptive Geometry in England: Lost in Translation

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Descriptive Geometry, The Spread of a Polytechnic Art

Abstract

This chapter looks at the history of descriptive geometry in England, and why here it had such a short, and not a very fulfilling life. Having arrived to England in the immediate aftermath of the wars between England and France, its translation and attempts to introduce it into the educational system happened only after the 1840s. The lack of direct, implicit knowledge of the original technique, and some aspects of mistranslation, meant that the technique was never properly understood. Descriptive geometry is still mainly regarded as a drawing, rather than a mathematical technique in England, and has not been practised since the end of the nineteenth century. Polytechnic schools in England were another short-lived phenomena, and only of any significance and showing similarity with the French model in the second half of the twentieth century.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Design, Engineering, and Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, UK

    Snezana Lawrence

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  1. Snezana Lawrence
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Correspondence to Snezana Lawrence .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. UFR Sciences et Techniques, Nantes, France

    Évelyne Barbin

  2. Department of Mathematics, Sapienza–University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Marta Menghini

  3. University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany

    Klaus Volkert

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Lawrence, S. (2019). Descriptive Geometry in England: Lost in Translation. In: Barbin, É., Menghini, M., Volkert, K. (eds) Descriptive Geometry, The Spread of a Polytechnic Art. International Studies in the History of Mathematics and its Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14808-9_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14808-9_18

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-14807-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-14808-9

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