Related Research Articles
A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celestial navigation.
A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with magnetic north. Other methods may be used, including gyroscopes, magnetometers, and GPS receivers.
An astrolabe is an ancient astronomical instrument that was a handheld model of the universe. Its various functions also make it an elaborate inclinometer and an analog calculation device capable of working out several kinds of problems in astronomy. In its simplest form it is a metal disc with a pattern of wires, cutouts, and perforations that allows a user to calculate astronomical positions precisely. Historically used by astronomers, it is able to measure the altitude above the horizon of a celestial body, day or night; it can be used to identify stars or planets, to determine local latitude given local time, to survey, or to triangulate. It was used in classical antiquity, the Islamic Golden Age, the European Middle Ages and the Age of Discovery for all these purposes.
The heading indicator (HI), also known as a directional gyro (DG) or direction indicator (DI), is a flight instrument used in an aircraft to inform the pilot of the aircraft's heading.
An alidade or a turning board is a device that allows one to sight a distant object and use the line of sight to perform a task. This task can be, for example, to triangulate a scale map on site using a plane table drawing of intersecting lines in the direction of the object from two or more points or to measure the angle and horizontal distance to the object from some reference point's polar measurement. Angles measured can be horizontal, vertical or in any chosen plane.
A compass is a navigational instrument that indicates the direction to the magnetic poles.
The term Jacob's staff is used to refer to several things, also known as cross-staff, a ballastella, a fore-staff, a ballestilla, or a balestilha. In its most basic form, a Jacob's staff is a stick or pole with length markings; most staffs are much more complicated than that, and usually contain a number of measurement and stabilization features. The two most frequent uses are:
Reflecting instruments are those that use mirrors to enhance their ability to make measurements. In particular, the use of mirrors permits one to observe two objects simultaneously while measuring the angular distance between the objects. While reflecting instruments are used in many professions, they are primarily associated with celestial navigation as the need to solve navigation problems, in particular the problem of the longitude, was the primary motivation in their development.
Joan Gideon Loten was a Dutch servant in the colonies of the Dutch East India Company, the 29th Governor of Zeylan, Fellow of the Royal Society and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. During his time in the colonies he made collections of natural history. In 1758 he moved to Holland. Nine months after his return from the Dutch East Indies he moved to London, where he lived for 22 years and interacted with scholarly societies and shared his natural history illustrations and collections. The sunbird species Cinnyris lotenius is named after him
Willem Fredrik Jacob Mörzer Bruyns,, is a Dutch historian of navigational science, specializing in the history of navigational instruments; he has also published on the history of the Dutch in the Arctic in the nineteenth century. He rose to be Senior Curator of Navigation at the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum before his retirement in 2005. Since 1972, Mörzer Bruyns published several books and a hundred-and-fifteen articles in scholarly journals, on the history of navigation and navigational instruments, and on the exploration of the Dutch in the Arctic, in the nineteenth century. He wrote seventy-five book reviews on these subjects in scholarly journals.
Beyond Sleep is a novel by the Dutch writer Willem Frederik Hermans, published in February 1966. The protagonist, Dutch geologist Alfred Issendorf, has a geology dissertation in preparation, and embarks on an expedition to Finnmark, northern Norway, to verify his dissertation director's theory that craters in the local landscape were formed by meteor impacts rather than by Ice Age glaciers. Initially he is accompanied by a group of three Norwegian students of geology, but soon after two travel their own course Alfred loses his guide Arne, who falls to his death, and is then on his own in a land where the sun never sets.
Spencer, Browning & Rust was a London firm that manufactured instruments for navigational use during the 18th and 19th centuries. The predecessor company of Spencer and Browning was established by William Spencer and Samuel Browning in 1778, before they entered into partnership with Ebenezer Rust in 1784. After the death of Ebenezer Rust's son, the successor business was known as Spencer, Browning & Co. The firm of Spencer, Browning & Rust made a variety of navigational instruments, including octants and sextants.
Jonathan Sisson was a prominent English instrument maker, the inventor of the modern theodolite with a sighting telescope for surveying, and a leading maker of astronomical instruments.
Gerard Arnout Hasselaer was a burgomaster and counsellor of the city of Amsterdam, and a Director of the Dutch East India Company.
An azimuth compass is a nautical instrument used to measure the magnetic azimuth, the angle of the arc on the horizon between the direction of the sun or some other celestial object and the magnetic north. This can be compared to the true azimuth obtained by astronomical observation to determine the magnetic declination, the amount by which the reading of a ship's compass must be adjusted to obtain an accurate reading. Azimuth compasses were important in the period before development of the reliable chronometers needed to determine a vessel's exact position from astronomical observations.
A grid compass known as well as grid steering compass, is a navigating instrument. It is a design of magnetic compass that facilitates steering a steady course without the risk of parallax error.
Michiel Coignet was a Flemish polymath who made significant contributions to various disciplines including cosmography, mathematics, navigation and cartography. He also built new and improved scientific instruments and made military engineering designs.
The compass is a magnetometer used for navigation and orientation that shows direction in regards to the geographic cardinal points.The structure of a compass consists of the compass rose, which displays the four main directions on it: East (E), South (S), West (W) and North (N). The angle increases in the clockwise position. North corresponds to 0°, so east is 90°, south is 180° and west is 270°.
Burt's solar compass or astronomical compass is a surveying instrument that makes use of the Sun's direction instead of magnetism. William Austin Burt invented his solar compass in 1835. The solar compass works on the principle that the direction to the Sun at a specified time can be calculated if the position of the observer on the surface of the Earth is known, to a similar precision. The direction can be described in terms of the angle of the Sun relative to the axis of rotation of the planet.
Hendrika Geertruida (Riek) Milikowski-de Raat was a Dutch communist, resistance fighter and painter who specialised in realism and symbolism with a focus on figures. De Raat's work is exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden as well as internationally.
References
Citations
- ↑ Stewart 1999, p. 145.
- 1 2 Bruyns 2008.
- 1 2 Mariner's compass in gimbals...
- ↑ Raat 2010, p. 161.
- ↑ Poelje 2010.
- ↑ Turner 1980, p. 34.
Sources
- Bruyns, W.F.J. Mörzer (2008). ""Een extra fraai Octant in zyn kas" uit de verzameling van een achttiende-eeuwse Amsterdamse regent". Studium. 1 (3). Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- "Mariner's compass in gimbals with inscribed bowl". Science Museum Group. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- Poelje, O. van (May 2010). "Beschrijving van de zamenstelling en het gebruik van een Nieuw Rekenkundig Werktuig. uitgevonden en gemaakt door Benjamin Ayres, Mathematische Instrumentmaker te Amsterdam" (PDF). Journal of the Oughtred Society. 19 (1). Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- Raat, Alexander J. P. (1 December 2010). The Life of Governor Joan Gideon Loten (1710-1789): A Personal History of a Dutch Virtuoso. Uitgeverij Verloren. ISBN 978-90-8704-151-9 . Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- Stewart, Larry (1999). "Other centres of calculation, or, where the Royal Society didn't count: commerce, coffee-houses and natural philosophy in early modern London" (PDF). The British Journal for the History of Science. 32 (2): 133–153. doi:10.1017/S0007087499003556. PMID 11623837. S2CID 37759363. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- Turner, Gerard L'Estrange (1980). Scientific Instruments, 1500-1900: An Introduction. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-21728-7 . Retrieved 21 January 2013.
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
