> "Prince Rupert's Problem" is the question whether one can make a hole
> in a cube so that another but congruent cube passes through it....
> who was this Prince Rupert, why is the problem named after him, and
> when it happened. Can anybody answer it?
I think the the first question can be answered, as there is only
one historical figure regularly referred to simply as "Prince Rupert."
Here is a quick description, the beginning of the article on him in
Encyclopedia Brittanica Online:
"Rupert, Prince
b. Dec. 17, 1619, Prague, Bohemia [now in Czech Republic]
d. Nov. 29, 1682, London, Eng.
byname RUPERT OF THE RHINE, OR RUPERT OF THE PALATINATE, German
PRINZ RUPERT, OR RUPRECHT, the most talented Royalist commander
of the English Civil War (1642-51). His tactical genius and daring
as a cavalry officer brought him many victories early in the war,
but his forces eventually were overcome by the more highly disciplined
Parliamentary army.
"Rupert's father was Frederick V, elector Palatine and king of Bohemia
(as Frederick I); and his mother, Elizabeth Stuart, was a daughter
of King James I of England. In 1620, two years after the outbreak
of the Thirty Years' War, the family was driven from Bohemia to the
Dutch Republic, where Rupert grew up. The high-spirited youth became
a favourite of his uncle, King Charles I, when he visited the English
court in 1636."
I'll skip over the (longer) account of his fighting in the English
Civil War and quote just the last sentence: "During the years before
his death, Rupert dabbled in scientific experiments and introduced
the art of mezzotint printmaking into England." This makes it
very likely that he is indeed the man involved; but I don't know
any further details.
William C. Waterhouse
Penn State