Person: Olivier, Théodore

Théodore Olivier was a French geometer who made string models of ruled surfaces.

He obtained the help of three top scientists, one being Théodore Olivier, the other two being Baptiste Dumas and Eugène Péclet.
Olivier became a professor at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures when it opened in the Hôtel de Juigné in the Marais district of Paris in 1829.
In his role as professor Olivier lectured on descriptive geometry and mechanics.
From the 1840's Olivier wrote textbooks.
Olivier earned quite a good income from selling these models, particularly in the United States.
Other institutions in the United States such as the Columbia School of Mines also purchased models from Olivier while Princeton had copies of Olivier's models made for them.
In 1849 Olivier presented a full set of the range of models he had created to the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers.
In 1857, four years after Olivier died, Harvard University purchased 24 of Olivier's models from Fabre de Lagrange and after the university received the order Benjamin Peirce gave a series of lectures on the mathematics which they illustrated.
Even after giving a complete set of his models to the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, forty models were still in Olivier's possession at the time of his death.
When Gillispie died Olivier's models were sold to the college.

Born 21 January 1793, Lyon, France. Died 5 August 1853, Lyon, France.

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Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0!

O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive