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Playing with Geometrical Tools: Johannes Stabius's Astrolabium imperatorium (1515) and Its Successors.
- Source :
-
Centaurus: Journal of the European Society for the History of Science . Feb-May2016, Vol. 58 Issue 1/2, p104-134. 31p. - Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- This article suggests that 16th-century sources describing astronomical instruments may be analyzed in terms of 'geometrical tools', that is discrete arrangements of lines and curves that solve particular problems. Geometrical tools provided a means for innovation. By playing, literally, with such tools, mathematicians could invent new instruments or add new functions to existing instruments. For a case study of this process, I shall consider the rectangular astrolabe, first proposed in 1515 by Johannes Stabius and reconfigured in several other versions over the course of the 16th century. Geometrical tools, I conclude, are revealed in diagrams found in the sources, not in the accompanying texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00088994
- Volume :
- 58
- Issue :
- 1/2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Centaurus: Journal of the European Society for the History of Science
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 120413509
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1600-0498.12112