Hyperboloid String

The exhibit is a model of the quadratic surface called a hyperboloid of one sheet. It is an example of a surface of revolution wherein the shape is produced by rotating a hyperbola (two parabolas) about the perpendicular bisector to the line between the foci.
The hyperboloid of one sheet is first discovered by Archimedes. In 1669 Christopher Wren, the architect who designed St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, showed that this kind of hyperboloid is what mathematicians now call a ruled surface – a surface composed of infinitely many straight lines.