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Edwin A. Abbott
Flatland
Edwin A. Abbott , a clergyman, headmaster of the City of London School, wrote the work Flatland: a Romance of Many Dimensions by a Square in 1884. Abbot was taking a stab at the prejudice in Victorian England that people had about these higher dimensions. The novel was surprisingly successful and enduring.
Mr. Square is the protagonist. All of the other citizens are some sort of polygon.
Woman - are lines
Nobility - polygons
High priests - circles
The more sides one has, the higher your social rank. Also, it is forbidden to discuss the "3rd dimension". This is a swipe at those who refuse to believe in these other worlds.
The book was an instant sucess in England, with nine successive repringtings by the year 1915. The editions of the work are to numerous for us to count today.
Abbot used the controversy surrounding the 4th dimension, as a vehicle for biting social criticism and satire. Abbot was taking a playful swipe at the rigid and pious individuals who refused to admit the possibility of these other worlds.
Discussion, in the world of Flatland, of the 3rd dimension was strictly forbidden. Anyone who mentions the 3rd dimension is subject to severe punishment.
The life of Mr. Square is turned upside when he is visited by the 3-dimensional Lord Sphere.
In Flatland, Mr. Square encounters Lord Sphere, who passes through Flatland. He appears as a circle (a cross section of a sphere) which becomes successively larger and then smaller. Flatlanders cannot visualize 3-dimensional objects, however, can understand their cross sections.
Lord Sphere claims that he comes from another world called Spaceland, where all objects are 3-dimensional. Mr. Square, however, is unconvinced that a 3rd dimension was possible. Lord Sphere resorts to peeling Mr. Square off of Flatland and flinging him into Spaceland. This is a mystical experience that changes Mr. Square's life. Mr. Square floats in Spaceland like a piece of paper flowing in the wind.
When Mr. Square returns to Flatland, the High Priests consider his musings on the 3rd dimension to be nonsense, considering Mr. Square to be a maniac. Mr. Square, thus becomes a threat to the High Priests, as he challenges their sacred belief that only 2 dimensions can exist.
Mr. Square is sent to jail and is forced to spend the rest of his days in solitary confinement.
This novel is important since it was the first widely read popularization of a visit to a higher dimensional world. The description of Mr. Square's trip into Spaceland is mathematically correct.
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