The First Image of a Tetrakaidekaderon on a 19th Century Pillow?

 

Lord Kelvin, (William Thomson, 1824-1907), "On the Homogeneous Division of Space", in Nature, two issues, as follows:  (1) 8 March 1894, pp 445-448; and (2) 15 March 1894, pp 469-471. A version of this paper appears slightly earlier (17 January) in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.  Both papers, removed from a larger bound volume but with their original front and rear wrappers as well as the seldon-seen advertisement section: $95

There are many (i.e., 1,496,225,352)  different forms of the convex 14-faced polyhedron tetrakaidekahedron (see Wolfram Math for a quick summary)--this is the first I can remember being displayed on a 19th century pillow.  Kelvin was particularly interested in displaying geometrical figures in three dimensional space, and would return to the issue numerous times, particularly in the Baltimore Lectures on Molecular Dynamics and the Wave Theory of Light (see page 606ff).

These are remarkably interesting papers--especially considering their brevity.

It is interesting to note the list of what Thomson "is known for" in his Wiki entry:

• Joule–Thomson effect
• Thomson effect (thermoelectric)
• Mirror galvanometer
• Siphon recorder
• Kelvin material
• Kelvin water dropper
• Kelvin wave
• Kelvin–Helmholtz instability
• Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism
• Kelvin–Helmholtz luminosity
• Kelvin transform
• Absolute Zero
• Kelvin's circulation theorem
• Stokes' Theorem
• Kelvin bridge
• Kelvin sensing
• Kelvin equation
• Kelvin-Varley divider
• Magnetoresistance
• Coining the term 'kinetic energy'