Giuseppe Campani, “Inventor Romae,” an Uncommon Genius

Giuseppe Campani, “Inventor Romae,” an Uncommon Genius
Author: Silvio Bedini
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 902
Release: 2021-07-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9004464514

Giuseppe Campani, “Inventor Romae,” an Uncommon Genius offers an account of the life and creations of the most talented maker of optic lenses, silent clocks and projector clocks of the second half of the seventeenth century but also provides you with unique insights into the scientific and technological landscape of baroque Rome and its links to a broader European scene.

Imago Cosmi

Imago Cosmi
Author: Daniele L. R. Marini
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 508
Release: 2023-09-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3031309448

This book takes the reader on an exploration of the Cosmos, from Mesopotamia and Egypt to China; it unveils the fascinating development of astronomy and mathematics. After an overview of the origins of these subjects, highlighting the contributions of Greek astronomers, the Arab culture, and Copernicus' solar system model, the book delves into the revolutionary work of Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton, leading to a comprehensive understanding of the solar system. Special attention is given to the instruments used by ancient astronomers, including the most important astronomical clocks and planetary machines. In light of this, the author examines Kepler's almost unknown design of a planetary machine and offers an interpretation using virtual reality techniques. The book also highlights the Chinese view of the Cosmos and the evolution of its astronomy and astronomical machines, offering readers a unique perspective and insight into the relationship between astronomy and technology in different cultures. Finally, the author provides a practical approach to understanding the construction and mechanics of astronomical machines, exploring the process of designing and manufacturing a Tellurium. The reading is enriched with short videos of the Tellurium, along with a translation of the description of the planetary machine by Christiaan Huygens. In addition, it provides a unique glimpse into the religious influences on astronomical studies during the mid-1700s through the translation of Johann Albrecht Bengel's book Cyclus. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of science and technology. It appeals to astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, and historians of science and technology alike, providing fascinating descriptions and insightful analysis of the vision of the Cosmos from its earliest conceptions to the present day.

Apolline Project Vol. 1

Apolline Project Vol. 1
Author: Girolamo De Simone
Publisher: Girolamo F. De Simone
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2009
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 8896055008

Janello Torriani and the Spanish Empire

Janello Torriani and the Spanish Empire
Author: Cristiano Zanetti
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 462
Release: 2017-07-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9004320911

Janello Torriani, known in the Spanish-speaking world as Juanelo Turriano (Cremona, Italy ca. 1500 – Toledo, Spain 1585), is the greatest among Renaissance inventors and constructors of machines. Contemporary literates and mathematicians celebrated Janello Torriani and his creations in their writings. It is striking how such fame turned into nearly complete oblivion, leaving only a few clues of a blurred and distorted memory dispersed here and there. This book wishes to show the central role that artisans formed in the Vitruvian tradition played in demonstrating through practical mathematics an increasing and positive control over Nature, a step rooted in humanist culture and foundational for the understanding of those historical processes known as the Scientific and the Industrial Revolutions.

The Quest for an Appropriate Past in Literature, Art and Architecture

The Quest for an Appropriate Past in Literature, Art and Architecture
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 818
Release: 2018-10-16
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9004378219

This volume explores the various strategies by which appropriate pasts were construed in scholarship, literature, art, and architecture in order to create “national”, regional, or local identities in late medieval and early modern Europe. Because authority was based on lineage, political and territorial claims were underpinned by historical arguments, either true or otherwise. Literature, scholarship, art, and architecture were pivotal media that were used to give evidence of the impressive old lineage of states, regions, or families. These claims were related not only to classical antiquity but also to other periods that were regarded as antiquities, such as the Middle Ages, especially the chivalric age. The authors of this volume analyse these intriguing early modern constructions of “antiquity” and investigate the ways in which they were applied in political, intellectual and artistic contexts in the period of 1400–1700. Contributors include: Barbara Arciszewska, Bianca De Divitiis, Karl Enenkel, Hubertus Günther, Thomas Haye, Harald Hendrix, Stephan Hoppe, Marc Laureys, Frédérique Lemerle, Coen Maas, Anne-Françoise Morel, Kristoffer Neville, Konrad Ottenheym, Yves Pauwels, Christian Peters, Christoph Pieper, David Rijser, Bernd Roling, Nuno Senos, Paul Smith, Pieter Vlaardingerbroek, and Matthew Walker.

The Light of Nature

The Light of Nature
Author: J.D. North
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 462
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 9400951191

This volume of essays is meant as a tribute to Alistair Crombie by some of those who have studied with him. The occasion of its publication is his seven tieth birthday - 4 November 1985. Its contents are a reflection - or so it is hoped - of his own interests, and they indicate at the same time his influence on subjects he has pursued for some forty years. Born in Brisbane, Australia, Alistair Cameron Crombie took a first degree in zoology at the University of Melbourne in 1938, after which he moved to Je sus College, Cambridge. There he took a doctorate in the same subject (with a dissertation on population dynamics - foreshadowing a later interest in the history of Darwinism) in 1942. By this time he had taken up a research position with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in the Cambridge Zoological La boratory, a position he left in 1946, when he moved to a lectureship in the his tory and philosophy of science at University College, London. H. G. Andrewa ka and L. C. Birch, in a survey of the history of insect ecology (R. F. Smith, et al. , History of Entomology, 1973), recognise the importance of the works of Crombie (with which they couple the earlier work of Gause) as the principal sti mulus for the great interest taken in interspecific competition in the mid 194Os.

The History of the Barometer

The History of the Barometer
Author: W. E. Knowles Middleton
Publisher: ACC Distribution
Total Pages: 489
Release: 1997
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780948382086

The 17th century was marked by 6 important inventions that made possible the acceleration of man's scientific understanding. The barometer enabled accurate air pressure measurements to be made, and this reference work examines its history and development.

The Pope's Elephant

The Pope's Elephant
Author: Silvio A. Bedini
Publisher: Penguin Mass Market
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2000
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Examines the court of Pope Leo X in sixteenth-century Rome, and discusses the popularity of the Pope's white elephant, Hanno, a gift from the king of Portugal.

The Royal Society and the Discovery of the Two Sicilies

The Royal Society and the Discovery of the Two Sicilies
Author: Manuela D’Amore
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2017-08-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 3319552910

This book illuminates a lesser-known aspect of the British history of travel in the Enlightenment: that of the Royal Society’s special contribution to the “discovery” of the south of Italy in the age of the Grand Tour. By exploring primary source journal entries of philosophy and travel, the book provides evidence of how the Society helped raise the Fellows’ curiosity about the Mediterranean and encouraged travel to the region by promoting cultural events there and establishing fruitful relations with major Italian academic institutions. They were especially devoted to revealing the natural and artistic riches of the Bourbon Kingdom from 1738 to 1780, during which the Roman city of Herculaneum was discovered and Vesuvius and Etna were actively eruptive. Through these examples, the book draws attention to the role that the Royal Society played in establishing cultural networks in Italy and beyond. Tracing a complex path starting in Restoration times, this new insight into discourse on learned travel contributes to a more challenging vision of Anglo-Italian relations in the Enlightenment.