Doubling the cube
Date
1 October 1661
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p100
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 367mm
width (page): 229mm
width (page): 229mm
Subject
Description
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 4 September 1661, Sir Paul Neile brought in a paper, endorsed by the King, of Thomas Hobbes's proposal of how to double the cube (stated as finding two proportionals between two straight lines given). This is the diagram accompanying Hobbes's proof.
William Brouncker was asked to examine the proof, which he found erroneous, as is explained here.
William Brouncker was asked to examine the proof, which he found erroneous, as is explained here.
Object history
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 4 September 1661, ‘A proposition of Mr. Hobbes for finding two mean proportionals between two strait lines given, was delivered to the Society by Sir Paul Neile from the king, indorsed with this majesty’s own hand, and was ordered to be registered; as was afterwards the answer to the problem, by lord viscount Brouncker’ (Birch 1:42). The date on which this was entered in the Register Book is given as 1 October, probably to await Brouncker's refutation.
Related fellows
William Brouncker, 2nd Viscount Brouncker of Lyons (1620 - 1684, British) , Mathematician
Associated place