Lambert

Abstract

In the history of the mathematical theory of perspective, Lambert’s work constitutes a chapter in itself, partly because of its excellent quality and partly because it is not an obvious part of any continuous development. Lambert put the final touches on thoughts that had been under way for one and a half centuries. Still, it is impossible to say where he got his inspiration. On the other hand, there is no evidence that his way of dealing with perspective had any influence on mathematicians who took up ideas comparable to his. Lambert’s approach, as previously mentioned, involved looking directly at the geometry in the picture plane. Later in the eighteenth century, Gaspard Monge created descriptive geometry by applying a similar idea to a plane containing a plan and an elevation, but it is not very likely that Monge was inspired by Lambert. Similarly, some of Lambert’s ideas pointed towards treating geometry projectively, but once again there are no indications that Lambert’s work influenced the development that led to projective geometry.