Home

Dupin

Dupin is a French surname that has appeared in literature, mathematics, and other contexts. The most widely known references are to the fictional detective Auguste Dupin, created by Edgar Allan Poe, and to Charles Dupin, a 19th-century French mathematician after whom Dupin cyclides are named.

Auguste Dupin is the central character in Poe's early detective fiction. He first appears in The Murders

Charles Dupin (1784–1843) was a French mathematician and engineer known for work in geometry and statistics.

in
the
Rue
Morgue
(1841),
widely
regarded
as
the
first
detective
story.
Dupin
uses
close
observation,
logical
reasoning,
and
psychological
insight
to
solve
cases
that
confound
the
police.
He
appears
again
in
The
Mystery
of
Marie
Roget
(1842)
and
The
Purloined
Letter
(1845).
The
character
is
regarded
as
a
model
of
the
rational,
non-professional
detective
and
helped
establish
conventions
later
popularized
by
writers
such
as
Arthur
Conan
Doyle.
In
mathematics,
the
term
Dupin
cyclide
refers
to
a
family
of
surfaces
named
in
his
honor.
A
Dupin
cyclide
is
a
canal
surface
whose
lines
of
curvature
come
in
circular
families;
equivalently,
it
can
be
obtained
as
an
inversion
of
a
torus,
a
cylinder,
or
a
cone.
Dupin
cyclides
are
notable
in
differential
geometry
for
their
distinct
circular
symmetry
properties
and
appear
in
studies
of
conformal
geometry
and
geometric
modeling.