The earliest investigations into what is now called astronomy arose out of the social necessities of early communities. These ancient peoples needed information in order to make calendars, keep time accurately, find directions and navigate. All this information could be determined from the night sky, prompting the invention and development of geometrical models in order to determine how the Earth, Sun and Moon, planets and stars are arranged in space. All cultures have asked, what is the structure of the universe? Some cultures based their overall view of the universe on mythology, whereas others used religious principles or philosophical arguments. The raw data for all these disciplines, however, was the same - the movement of the planets and stars. This book explores the development of conceptual ideas of the universe through the centuries and shows how these changes have been reflected in mechanical devices. It tells of the celestial globes of Aristotle, the planetary clocks of Eudoxus, sundials, nocturnals and false astrolabes. It discusses the observatories of Islam, Newtonian mechanics and the Copernican revolution.
It explores the development of clocks that led to the standardization of railway time-keeping systems in both the UK and the US, and tells how instrument makers played a vital part in the improvement of navigation. The book takes us to modern times where the technoastronomical revolution has provided new solutions to our current understanding of the universe.
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Illustrationen
12 mono illustrations, 60 line drawings
Maße
Höhe: 245 mm
Breite: 190 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-85667-509-6 (9780856675096)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Dennis Bacon is a full time writer of engineering textbooks and books on horology. Percy Seymour is Principal Lecturer in Astronomy at the Institute of Marine Studies, University of Plymouth. He has written articles on the use of astronomical models and clocks for teaching astronomy to navigators and hydrographic surveyors.
Introduction - Why Astronomy?; Calendar-making, time-keeping, direction finding and ancient navigation. Chapter 1 - Heavenly Cycles; The movements of the Sun, Moon, stars and planets as seen from Earth. Chapter 2 - Mechanical Skies; Aristotle's universe and the spheres of Eudoxus. Armillary spheres, celestial globes and astrolabes. Chapter 3 - Islam and the Astrolabe; The cosmic dimension of the Islamic faith. The lunar calendar. The astrolabe and the Qiblah indicator for finding the direction of Mecca. Chapter 4 - The Dondi Clock; The Ptolemaic spheres and the Dondi Clock; Chapter 5 - The Copernican Universe; The Copernican revolution and the first orreries. Later refinements to these devices. Chapter 6 - Galileo, the Pendulum and the Telescope; Galileo turns his telescope on the Sun, Moon, planets and stars. He also discovers the time keeping properties of the pendulum. Chapter 7 - The Mechanization of Time; Christian Huygens incorporates the pendulum principal into precision time-keepers. Opens the door to clockwork orreries and astronomical clocks. Chapter 8 - Clockwork Solar Systems; Various examples of clockwork orreries. Chapter 9 - The Geometrical Seaman; The use of astronomy to fix position at sea. Latitude and longitude. Devices for measuring the altitudes of the Sun, stars, Moon and planets. The instrument makes of Europe. The rise of nautical schools and colleges. Chapter 10 - Astronomical Clocks; Examples of astronomical clocks at various location in Europe. Astrolabe clocks. Tidal clocks. Chapter 11 - Theatre of the Stars; The invention and subsequent development of the projection planetarium. Chapter 12 - The Electronic Universe; Electronic simulations of celestial movements. Newer types of planetariums.
