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Jakob Steiner
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Steiner surface. It was during a trip to Rome in 1844 that Jakob Steiner first discovered the fourth-degree surface that today bears his name; for this reason it is sometimes referred to as the Roman surface. Each of its tangent planes has the characteristic property that it intersects the surface in a pair of conics. The Steiner surface also contains three double lines that meet one another in a triple point. Steiner never published these and other findings concerning the surface. A colleague, Karl Weierstrass, first published a paper on the surface and Steiner's results in 1863, the year of Steiner's death.
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Jakob Steiner: References & Edit History

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Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Anniversary information added. Mar 28, 2026
Anniversary information added. Mar 14, 2026
First paragraph modernization. Apr 09, 2024
Invalidated site: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive - Biography of Jakob Steiner. May 17, 2021
Animation and illustration of Steiner surface added. Mar 22, 2010
Added new Web site: University of Evansville - Biography of Jakob Steiner. Jan 09, 2009
Added new Web site: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive - Biography of Jakob Steiner. Jan 09, 2009
Article revised. Apr 27, 2001
Article revised. Aug 20, 1999
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
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