Economist (Nov 18, 2000):
".... Konrad Polthier, of
the Technical University of Berlin, pointed out the lengths to which his
predecessors in the study of “minimal surfaces” were prepared to go to
obtain pictures of what
they were doing. In the late
19th century, geometers from Göttingen would commission plaster
models of certain minimal surfaces, costing exorbitant sums that Dr
Polthier would be lucky to extract from his university’s treasurer.
Fortunately for him, there now exist
“three-dimensional printers”
that, at a cost of a few hundred dollars, will convert one of the
complicated surfaces he draws on his computer into something he can
grasp. .... "
