The Planispheric Astrolabe

The Planispheric Astrolabe
Author: National Maritime Museum (Great Britain). Dept. of Navigation and Astronomy
Publisher:
Total Pages: 56
Release: 1979
Genre: Astrolabes
ISBN:

Astrolabes in Medieval Cultures

Astrolabes in Medieval Cultures
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 516
Release: 2019-01-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004387862

First published as a special issue of the journal Medieval Encounters (vol. 23, 2017), this volume, edited by Josefina Rodríguez-Arribas, Charles Burnett, Silke Ackermann, and Ryan Szpiech, brings together fifteen studies on various aspects of the astrolabe in medieval cultures. The astrolabe, developed in antiquity and elaborated throughout the Middle Ages, was used for calculation, teaching, and observation, and also served astrological and medical purposes. It was the most popular and prestigious of the mathematical instruments, and was found equally among practitioners of various sciences and arts as among princes in royal courts. By considering sources and instruments from Muslim, Christian, and Jewish contexts, this volume provides state-of-the-art research on the history and use of the astrolabe throughout the Middle Ages. Contributors are Silke Ackermann, Emilia Calvo, John Davis, Laura Fernández Fernández, Miquel Forcada, Azucena Hernández, David A. King, Taro Mimura, Günther Oestmann, Josefina Rodríguez-Arribas, Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma, Petra G. Schmidl, Giorgio Strano, Flora Vafea, and Johannes Thomann.

The Astrolabe

The Astrolabe
Author: James E.. Morrison
Publisher:
Total Pages: 438
Release: 2007
Genre: Astrolabes
ISBN: 9780939320301

The Art, Science, and Technology of Medieval Travel

The Art, Science, and Technology of Medieval Travel
Author: Robert Odell Bork
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780754663072

This sixth volume in the AVISTA series considers medieval travel from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, placing the physical practice of transportation in the larger context of medieval thought about the world and its meaning. The papers included cover vehicle design and logistical management, the practicalities of how travellers oriented themselves, and the symbolism of the landscapes and maps created in the Middle Ages.

Astrolabes from Medieval Europe

Astrolabes from Medieval Europe
Author: David A. King
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2024-10-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1040241824

This is the fourth set of studies in the Variorum series by David King, a leading authority on the history of astronomy in Islamic civilization and on medieval astronomical instruments, European as well as Islamic. The first of the eleven studies collected here deals with medieval instruments in general, as precious historical sources. The following papers focus on individual astrolabes from the European Middle Ages and early Renaissance that are of singular historical importance. Two look at the origins of the simple universal horary quadrant and the complicated universal horary dial (navicula). The collection concludes with a list of all known medieval European astrolabes, ordered chronologically by region. Three "landmark" astrolabes are discussed: (1) the earliest known European astrolabe from 10th-century Catalonia, that milieu in which the astrolabe first became known to Europeans; (2) an astrolabe from 14th-century Picardy bearing numerals written in monastic ciphers as well as a later dedication mentioning two friends of Erasmus; (3) the splendid astrolabe presented in 1462 by the German astronomer Regiomontanus to his patron Cardinal Bessarion, with its enigmatic angel and Latin dedication, here presented in the context of other astrolabes of similar design from 15th-century Vienna.

Renaissance Astrolabes and their Makers

Renaissance Astrolabes and their Makers
Author: Gerard L'E. Turner
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2024-10-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1040235719

This book is about the archaeology of science, or what can be learnt from the systematic examination of the artefacts made by precision craftsmen for the study of the natural world. An international authority on historical scientific instruments, Gerard Turner has collected here his essays on European astrolabes and related topics. By 1600 the astrolabe had nearly ceased to be made and used in the West, and before that date there was little of the source material for the study of instruments that exists for more modern times. It is necessary to 'read' the instruments themselves, and astrolabes in particular are rich in all sorts of information, mathematical, astronomical, metallurgical, in addition to what they can reveal about craftsmanship, the existence of workshops, and economic and social conditions. There is a strong forensic element in instrument research, and Gerard Turner's achievements include the identification of three astrolabes made by Gerard Mercator, all of whose instruments were thought to have been destroyed. Other essays deal with the discovery of an important late 16th-century Florentine workshop, and of a group of mid-15th-century German astrolabes linked to Regiomontanus.

Kitāb Fī Al-ālāt Al-falakīyah

Kitāb Fī Al-ālāt Al-falakīyah
Author: François Charette
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 588
Release: 2003-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9789004130159

This study of mathematical instrumentation in the Mamluk world contains the edition and translation of a unique, richly-illustrated treatise, and provides a fascinating historical account of several instrument models that were thus far unknown or inadequately documented.

Aspects of the Astrolabe

Aspects of the Astrolabe
Author: Arianna Borrelli
Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2008
Genre: Science
ISBN:

"The astrolabe - often quoted as "the earliest computer" - is a mechanical instrument capable of performing astronomical computations. This study offers a new interpretation of its role in the Latin culture of the High Middle Ages, highlighting its epistemological significance. For Latin scholars around the year 1000, the astrolabe became the earliest, non-verbal channel to access and assimilate mathematical knowledge from the Arabic culture, and could be seen as representing a divine 'architectonical rationality' which humans could share in the mathematical experience. The novel methodology of this work combines the results of historical and philological analyses of manuscripts and material sources with the most recent insights on different kinds of mathematical thinking. Focussing on drawings and text fragments, with a new, detailed analysis of ms. Paris BnF 7412 (11th c), the study reconstructs the Latin high medieval mathematical experience, its non-verbal modes of communication and its relationship with both practice and philosophy."--BOOK JACKET.