On building and interpreting models: four historical case studies (Q2400830)

In October 2015, the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut in Oberwolfach hosted a workshop entitled ``History of mathematics: models and visualization in the mathematical and physical sciences''. According to the organizers, its goal was to explore important historical developments connected with models and visual elements in the mathematical and physical sciences throughout the period 1800--1950. The author's text is an introductory essay to a collection of four studies presented at the workshop that are published in the same volume of the Mathematical Intelligencer [\textit{O. Labs}, Math. Intell. 39, No. 2, 15--26 (2017; Zbl 1379.14002); \textit{K. Volkert}, ibid. 39, No. 2, 27--35 (2017; Zbl 1392.51001); \textit{T. H. Kjeldsen}, ibid. 39, No. 2, 36--45 (2017; Zbl 1380.92003); \textit{M. Stöltzner}, ibid. 39, No. 2, 46--54 (2017; Zbl 1372.01016)]. The author points out that the word ``model'' appears in mathematics in many contexts, including models of non-Euclidean geometries, physical paper/plaster models of 3D surfaces or 3D projections of 4D bodies, mathematical models of biological and physical phenomena, etc. These topics are addressed in the four subsequent papers, which provide a nice illustration of the breadth of the concept of a model in mathematics.