Configurations between geometry and combinatorics. (Q1428554)

A configuration \((v_r,b_k)\) is a finite incidence structure of \(v\) points and \(b\) lines such that (i) there are \(k\) points on each line and \(r\) lines through each point, and (ii) there is at most one line through two given points. In this paper, the development of configurations which were born in geometry during the last 125 years is described. The author discusses the early years of configurations and the conflict between their geometrical and combinatorial properties, represented by the wrong picture of a configuration \(10_3\) by Kantor. The breakthrough of Martinetti opened the research of configurations as purely combinatorial objects. The paper contains several citations from original papers which are not so easily available today in order to enable the reader to follow the development from geometry to combinatorics, and reflects very well some mathematical problems like the drawing and the realization problem of configurations as typical problems of the 20th century with a lot of impact on visualization and computers.