Klein bottle
Botella de Klein
- Date
- 1882 · confidence high
- Place
- Leipzig, Germany
- Credited to
- Felix Klein
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
German mathematician Felix Klein described in 1882 a closed, non-orientable, one-sided surface with no distinguishable inside or outside, which can only be embedded without self-intersection in four-dimensional space.
The name 'Klein bottle' may have originated from a mistranslation of the German 'Kleinsche Fläche' (Klein surface) as 'Kleinsche Flasche' (Klein bottle).
What it led to
- a fundamental example of a non-orientable surface in topology
- popularization of topology among the general public
- a common teaching device for introducing non-Euclidean geometry concepts