Gallery of Sundials
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Colegiul Tehnic Danubiana - Roman, Romania,
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This book is a part of the common effort of our 9 schools from 9 different countries to make a success out of our Comenius multilateral project: “Science around us along history” implemented during the period of two years, 2013 – 2015. Our project aims to promote cultural and intercultural awareness between European schools as well as the awareness that the existence of diversity between European countries is important and unifies, rather than separates, countries. Nine schools from Spain, Austria, France, Italy, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey and UK collaborate in carrying out activities that deal with various aspects of The History and Development of Sundials. Students between 14-18 years old, regardless of origin, gender, ability, religion and socio-economic background and teachers are actively involved in the project developing communication and friendship. This book is the result of the work of students and teachers from Colegiul Tehnic Danubiana - Roman, Romania, IES EL TABLERO – Cordoba, Spain, Istituto di Istruzione Superiore “PITAGORA” – Montalbano Jonico MT, Italy, Lycee Professionnel Andre Campa – Jurancon, France, Technikum Nr 3 w Zespole Szkół Nr 3 – Zabrze, Poland, Lidköpings kommun Barn och skola, Sweden, ZONGULDAK KOZLU LİSESİ, Turkey, Gloucestershire College – Cheltenham, UK, Bundeshandelsakademie und Bundeshandelsschule, Bundeshandelsakademie für Berufstätige- Graz, Austria.
This project has been funded by the European Commission trough Comenius Lifelong Learning Programme. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
******************************************* Comenius multilateral partnership “Science around us along history” 2013 - 2015
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GALLERY 
Old sundial located in the Great Mosque of Kairouan also known as the Mosque of Uqba, in Kairouan, Tunisia .
A Scottish gravestone bearing a sundial. The instrument has often doubled as a memento mori.
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A medieval mass dial (minus its gnomon) at St. Mary, Bibury; also known as a scratch dial, it was used to tell the times of Mass.
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This sundial displays a likeness of Father Time. Its motto quotes Robert Browning: "Grow old along with me; the best is yet to be."
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Marble equatorial sundial in the Europapark of Klagenfurt on Lake Woerth, Carinthia, Austria.
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Martin Bernhardt created a special gnomon for an equatorial sundial which adjusts for the equation of time and that allows one to read the time without knowing the date, to a precision of less than a minute.
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The Giant Sundial ofJantar Mantar in Jaipur, India, also known as the Samrat Yantra (The Supreme Instrument), stands 27m tall. Its shadow moves visibly at 1 mm per second, or roughly a hand's breadth (6 cm) every minute.
A modern hemispherium in Gyeongbok Palace.
37°34′43″N126°58′38″E The tip of the pointer serves as the
nodus; the height of the nodus-shadow within the bowl gives the time of the year. Since the picture was taken on 24 November, the sun is low in the sky, and the nodus-shadow higher in the bowl.
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Jantar Mantar observatory is a giant version of the spherical sundial. 
Several sundials arrayed on the faces of a cube. The styles are all parallel and meant to be aligned with the Earth's rotation axis. Such an array of sundials is not self-aligning, however.
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High precision (Âą30 seconds) sundial in Belgium
Astrolabe Parts, IMSS 8
@ Yvonne
Pointurier
Astrolabe made in 1460-1465 in Germany, used to teach astronomy.
Astronomical Rings, right Jean Langlois, left Heyle. MusĂŠe des Arts et MĂŠtiers, Paris
Astronomical rings also known as Gemma's rings (published in 1534) are an another early astronomical instrument. The instrument above right made by Langlois consists of three rings, the 9
meridien, the equator, and the declination ring. Above left made by Helye has only two rings with a central bar style. It may be considered to be a simplified, portable celestial sphere, or a more complex form of astrolabe. Additionally, the one on the upper right may be used as a sun ring and the one above right seems to have had a bar style that was removed. Both are from the mid 1700's. All of this astronomy required lots of instruments to do calculations. To the right you can see a mathematical instrument kit from the 1700's. I would imagine a navigator for a large ship would have similar instruments. Sancho Guttierez became official cartographer for the king starting in 1553 until 1574 when he died. His father Diego Guttierez was the official Spanish cartographer and instrument maker for the Spanish crown from 1534-1554. This was an incredibly lucrative business and a monopoly for the family which lasted until the death of Sancho in 1574.
Double Horizontal Sundial by Benjamin Scott. MusĂŠe des Arts et MĂŠtiers, Paris
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This is a horizontal “double”
sundial (it tells both time and the time of the year) from 1713 by Benjamin Scott. The thing sticking up is called a gnomon bar. Notice the scale on the plate used for determining the length of the shadow of the sun and hence the time of year. In simple terms, the noon sun is higher in the summer than winter and thus the winter shadow of the sun is longer than the summer shadow. This is the same principle as the Viking compass.
Sundial on Waltham Abbey
Prior to the invention of accurate clocks, in the mid-17th Century, sundials were the only timepieces in common use, and were considered to tell the “right” time. The Equation of Time was not used. After the invention of good clocks, sundials were still considered to be correct, and clocks usually incorrect. The Equation of Time was used in the opposite direction from today, to apply a correction to the time shown by a clock to make it agree with sundial time. 11
Only after about 1800 was uncorrected clock time considered to be “right”, and sundial time usually “wrong”, so the Equation of Time became used as it is today, to correct sundials from clocks. The picture above is a sundial on the side of Waltham Abbey church.
Universal Sun Dial, Dolland. Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris
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universal sun ring dial. It was likely invented by William Oughtred around 1600 and became common throughout Europe. The dial is suspended from the cord shown in the upper left; the suspension point on the vertical meridian ring can be changed to match the local latitude. The center bar is twisted until a sunray passes through the small hole and falls on the horizontal equatorial ring. This one was made by the famous London instrument maker John Dolland in the mid 1700's. Dolland was known for his 1757 invention which improved upon the achromatic objective lens by placing a concave flint glass lens between two convex crown glass lenses, thus seeing the rings of Saturn. The picture above shows a
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Multiple Sundial, Blondeau. Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris
Multiple Sundial, Blondeau. Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris
This multiple sundial is by Roch Blondeau from the the mid 17th century. Multiface dials have the advantage of receiving light (and, thus, telling time) at every hour of the day. However, they are usually not self-aligning, since their various dials generally use the same principle to tell time, that of a gnomon-style aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation. If two or more dials that operate on different principles are combined, as in this sundial, the resulting multiple dial becomes self-aligning. In other words, the direction of true North need not be determined; the dials are oriented correctly when they read the same time. This is a significant advantage in portable dials and small sun dials such as this one.
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Universal Portable Horizontal Sundial, Nicolas Bion. Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris
is a portable universal horizontal sundial, with a compass built in for orientation. This was made by Nicolas Bion in the late 1700's. He was a French mathematician and maker of globes and scientific instruments. His official title was Ingénieur du Roi pour les instruments des mathematique. Author of two important works : L'Usage des globes celestes et terrestres, et des spheres, suivant les différents systèmes du monde [Paris 1699] and Traité de la construction et des principaux usages des instrumens de mathématiques [Paris 1709]. Both works proved highly popular and were translated into a number of other European languages. This
Portable Sundial, Stockart. Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris
This is a German portable sundial with a compass and a string made by Ernst Christoph Stockert from Bavaria in the early 1700's. Notice the string can go from a lattitude of 34 to 56, which covers most of Europe. Stockert was a well-known manufacturer living in Nurenberg. There still is a compass manufacturer called Stockert in Nuremberg. These little papered wood sundials were very popular but it is a misconception that they are self aligning, the two dials will read the same no matter which direction it is pointed. 15
Card Dial of Universal Height, Regiomontanus. Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris
This is a “Card Dial of Universal Height” by Regiomontanus from about 1600. It is possible to determine the time with this card independent of lattitude.
Card Dial of Universal Height, Regiomontanus. Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris
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Pantochronometer, Humand. Musée des Arts et Métiers
Dieppe Style nocturnal Volvelle, Bloud. Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris
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Dieppe Style nocturnal Volvelle, Bloud. MusĂŠe des Arts et MĂŠtiers, Paris
This instrument is different from the nocturnal that employs the pole star and selected others to determine time at night. These two-fold ivory sundials are called Dieppe-style because they were originally developed and mass produced by Charles Bloud in the northern French city of Dieppe (Normandy) from 1666 on. The one shown above is a Bloud sundial.
Nocturlabe, Hoevenar. Maritime Museum, Paris
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Nocturlabe
Nocturlabe
Then just line it up so you can see the north star through the hole in the middle and move the big arm so that it lines up with the chosen stars. Then just read the time off the inner scale. You can do the same thing with a full astrolabe or even a sextant but it requires some calculations and this little instrument does it for you. This method determines local time which is useful for determining what time it is where you are, but does not tell you anything about your longitude. Since the Earth rotates at a steady rate of 360째 per day, or 15째 per hour, there is a direct relationship between time and longitude. If the navigator knew the time at a fixed reference point when some event occurred at the ship's location, the difference between the reference time and the apparent local time would give the ship's position relative to the fixed location. Finding apparent local time is relatively 19
easy as we have shown above. The problem, ultimately, was how to determine the time at a distant reference point while on a ship. The concept of using a clock to measure longitude can be attributed to our now well known friend Gemma Frisius.
Multifunction Watch, Abraham-Louis Breguet from 1785. MusĂŠe des Arts et MĂŠtiers, Paris
I am going to finish this up with pictures of three very cool clocks on display all with astrological features. The earliest really expensive clocks often had astronomical attributes added, like the phases of the moon. The watch shown above is a double faced Abraham-Louis Breguet from 1785 (see my post on chronometers). It has dials for hours, seconds, day of the week, day of the month, month of the year and something that goes from -15 to +15 which I can't figure out. The other side has astrological displays such as the phases of the moon and at least 7 other functions.
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Sundials 21
Armillary Sphere Attributed to Carlo Plato Dated 1578; Rome
Armillary Sphere Signed by Carlo Plato Dated 1588; Rome
Astrolabe Signed by Erasmus Habermel circa 1585; German
Gilt bass
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Astrolabe Signed by Georg Hartmann Dated 1541; Nuremberg
Astrolabe Unsigned Late 16th century; Flemish
s;
Wind Vane Unsigned circa 1590; German Gilt brass; 195 x 50 mm
sundials of Vaulgrenant, France, photo FB
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sundial of Oye-et-Pallet, France,
sundial made by HervĂŠ Payen
sundial on the port of Monaco, France
sundial made by Jean-Claude Monnet
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castle of Joux, France
sundial made by Michel Lambalieu
sundial made by Marco Zavarella, user of Shadows, in Italy
Vertical Disc Dial Signed by Charles Whitwell Dated 1593; English Gilt brass; 110 x 70 x 4
mm
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Vertical Disc Dial Unsigned Dated 1564; German
Lille, France
Nancray, France
Oyrières, France
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Jardin des plantes, Paris
Greek sundial, villa Kerylos, Baulieu-sur-mer, France
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France
Institut de France, Paris
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Vertical Disc Dial Unsigned Late 16th century; Spanish
Vertical Disc Dial Signed by Alexius Schniep circa 1600; Vienna Gilt brass; 145 x 85 x 2 mm
Vertical Dial Unsigned Later 16th century; Florence
0 mm in height
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Theodolite Signed by Erasmus Habermel Late 16th century; Prague
ass; 25
Sundial And Dividers Signed by Christoph Schissler Dated 1558; Augsburg Gilt brass; 165 mm in length
Sundial Unsigned 16th century; German
; 15mm
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Sun And Moon Dial Unsigned circa 1580; German
s; 44 mm
Scaphe Dial Signed by Georg Hartmann Dated 1539; Nuremberg
Scaphe Dial Signed by Girolamo della Volpaia Dated 1588; Florence Wood and brass; 80 mm in diameter
Scaphe Dial Signed by Stefano Buonsignori Dated 1584; Florence Wood; 130 mm in diameter
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Ring Dial Attributed to Epiphanius Evesham circa 1600; English Brass; 33 mm in diameter
Ring Dial Signed by Humfrey Cole circa 1575; London Gilt brass; 74 mm in diameter
Ring Dial Signed by Girolamo della Volpaia Dated 1566; Florence Brass; 63 mm in diameter
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Polyhedral Dial Attributed to Girolamo della Volpaia 16th century; Florence Wood; 121 mm in height
Polyhedral Dial Signed by Stefano Buonsignori Dated 1587; Florence Wood; 195 mm in height
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Pendant Sundial Unsigned Medieval; English Sandstone; 83 x 110 x
23 mm
sundial made by Pascal Simonie (France
sundial made by Dan O'Neal (Guatemala
perpendicular style: Beaulieu-surmer, France
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linear style: Aix-en-Provence, France
triangular style: Figeac, France
Aix-en-Provence, France
triangular style: Varsovie
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thread style: John Carmichael
eplica of a diptych sundial
Annecy, France,
Greenwich observatory, UK
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Nocturnal And Sundial Unsigned circa 1600 ?; French Gilt brass; 52 mm in diameter
Nocturnal And Sundial Signed by Caspar Vopel Dated 1557; Cologne Brass; 130 mm in diameter
Nocturnal And Sundial Unsigned Dated 1560; French Gilt brass; 129 mm in diameter
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Nocturnal Unsigned 16th century; English Brass; 77 mm in diameter
Nocturnal Signed by Hans Dorn Dated 1491; Vienna
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Navicula Dial Unsigned 15th century; English Brass; 180 mm in height
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Nautical Hemisphere Signed by Charles Whitwell Late 16th century; English Brass; 280 mm in diameter
Inclining Dial Signed by Alexius Schniep Dated 1578; Munich Gilt brass; 67 x 44 x 11 mm
Horizontal Dial Attributed to Carlo Plato Dated 1585; Rome
Horizontal Dial Signed by Carlo Plato Dated 1593; Rome Gilt brass; 87 x 113 x
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Horizontal Dial Signed by Camillo della Volpaia Dated 1542; Florence Boxwood; 152 x 94 mm
Horizontal Dial Signed by Girolamo della Volpaia Dated 1576; Florence
x 11mm
Horizontal Dial Unsigned Dated 1453; Austrian Gilt brass; 59 x 80 x 5 mm
Horizontal Dial Attributed to Carlo Plato Dated 1588; Italian Brass; 75 mm in diameter
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Horizontal Dial Unsigned Later 16th century; Italian Gilt and silvered brass; 47 x 46 x
15 m
Horizontal Dial Signed by Erasmus Habermel circa 1590; Prague Gilt brass; 190 x 190 mm
folded
Horizontal Dial Attributed to Nicholas Oursian Dated 1542; English Brass; 224 mm in diameter
maximum)
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Horizontal Dial Signed by Humfrey Cole Dated 1579; London Brass; 180 mm x 180 mm
Horizontal Dial Attributed to Carlo Plato Dated 1578; Rome Gilt brass; 125 mm in diameter
Warsaw, Poland
Chauffaud, France
sundial made by John Carmichael, sundial maker in Tucson, Arizona, USA
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sundial made by Simon Bernard, sundial maker in Beaune
sundial made by Sk端lpt 303
Forbidden city, Beijing, Chine
Equinoctial Dial Unsigned Late 16th century ?; French Ivory; 53 x 73 x 6 mm
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Equinoctial Dial Unsigned 15th century; Spanish Brass; 51 mm in diameter
Equinoctial Dial Unsigned circa 1500; French Brass; 60 mm in diameter
Equinoctial Dial Signed by Petrus ab Aggere Dated 1562; Madrid Gilt brass; 11 x 57 x 57 mm
Equinoctial Dial Unsigned Late 15th century ?; English Brass; 40 mm in diameter
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Equinoctial Dial Signed by Charles Whitwell Dated 1606; London Gilt brass; 62 mm in diameter
Equatorium Unsigned Late 15th century; French Brass; 193 mm in diameter
Diptych Dial Unsigned circa 1600 ?; Spanish
68 x 22 mm
Diptych Dial Unsigned Dated 1596; Italian Ivory and silver; 51 x 64 x 21 mm
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Diptych Dial Unsigned Dated 1573; French Ebony and ivory; 53 x 35 mm
Diptych Dial Unsigned circa 1600; Italian Ivory and brass; 56 x 69
mm
Diptych Dial Unsigned circa 1600; English Ivory and brass; 62 x 84 x 18
mm
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Diptych Dial Unsigned circa 1600; Italian Ivory and brass; 64 x 71
x 10 mm
Diptych Dial Unsigned circa 1600; French Ebony, ivory and brass; 67
x 75 x 15 mm
Diptych Dial Unsigned Dated 1589; Italian Ivory and gilt brass; 62 x 73
12 mm
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Crucifix Dial Unsigned Dated 1592; French Brass; 112 x 24 x 82 mm
Crucifix Dial Unsigned Dated 1575; Rome Gilt brass; 11 x 54 x 31
mm
Crucifix Dial Signed by Adriaan Zeelst Dated 1588; Louvain Gilt brass; 7 x 32 x 54 mm
Chalice Dial Signed by Bartholomaeus Madauer Dated 1554; Aldersbach Gilt brass; 105 mm in diameter
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Celestial Globe Signed by Mario Cartaro Dated 1577; Rome Wood; 156 mm in diameter
bifilar sundial: sundial made by Pierre-Joseph Dallet
Bifilar sundial: sundial made by Jean Pakhomoff
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Precision Sundial Š Hoffmann Albin
armillary ring (detail): photo Helga Nordhoff
armillaire sphere: windchimedirect.com
Azimuth Dial Unsigned circa 1600; English Brass; 145 mm in diameter
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Astronomical Ring Dial Signed by Gualterus Arsenius Dated 1572; Louvain Gilt brass; 262 mm in diameter
Armillary Sphere Signed by Antonio Santucci Constructed 1588 to 1593; Florence Wood and metal; 2420 mm in diameter
Armillary Sphere Signed by Philippe Danfrie circa 1570; French Brass; 200 mm in diameter
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Armillary Sphere Signed by Giovanni Paolo Ferreri Dated 1600; Rome Gilt brass; 820 mm in height
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Bibliography
Earle AM (1971). Sundials and Roses of Yesterday. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle. ISBN 0-80480968-2. LCCN 74142763. Reprint of the 1902 book published by Macmillan (New York). A.P.Herbert, Sundials Old and New,Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1967. Mayall RN, Mayall MW (1994). Sundials: Their Construction and Use (3rd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Sky Publishing. ISBN 0-933346-71-9. Hugo Michnik, Theorie einer Bifilar-Sonnenuhr, Astronomishe Nachrichten, 217(5190), p. 81-90, 1923
Rohr RRJ (1996). Sundials: History, Theory, and Practice (translated by G. Godin ed.). New York: Dover. ISBN 0-486-29139-1. Slightly amended reprint of the 1970 translation published by University of Toronto Press (Toronto). The original was published in 1965 under the title Les Cadrans solaires by Gauthier-Villars (Montrouge, France).
Frederick W. Sawyer, Bifilar gnomonics, JBAA (Journal of the British Astronomical association), 88(4):334–351, 1978
Gerard L'E. Turner, Antique Scientific Instruments, Blandford Press Ltd. 1980 ISBN 0-7137-1068-3
J.L. Heilbron, The sun in the church: cathedrals as solar observatories, Harvard University Press, 2001 ISBN 978-0-674-00536-5.
Make A Sundial, (The Education Group British Sundial Society) Editors Jane Walker and David Brown, British Sundial Society 1991 ISBN 0-9518404-0
Waugh AE (1973). Sundials: Their Theory and Construction. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0486-22947-5.
"Illustrating Shadows", Simon Wheaton-Smith, ISBN 0-9765286-8-1, LCN: 2005900674
"Illustrating More Shadows", Simon Wheaton-Smith, both books are over 300 pages long.
Quadrent Vetus: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2002JHA….33..237K
Horary Quadrent: http://www.raco.cat/index.php/Suhayl/article/download/199578/266898
Manuscript: http://www.artfact.com/auction-lot/quadrans-vetus,-and-other-texts-on-the-constructi-584c-3lan5tbzm4
Islamic
Astronomy:
http://www.siasat.pk/forum/showthread.php?102927-Islamic-Astronomy-
Astronomical-instruments
For further information on (astrolabic) quadrants in the Islamic World see David King, Article ‘Rub” in: The encyclopedia of Islam, vol. 8 (1995), pp. 574-75.
Starteach Astronomy: http://www.starteachastronomy.com/arab.html
See
more
at:
http://traveltoeat.com/arabian-astrolabes-clocks-and-sundials-british-
museum/#sthash.kxHXwz5s.dpuf
http://www.britannica.com/clockworks/main.html
http://freepages.pavilion.net/users/aghelyar
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
(Andre E. Bouchard is the chairman of Communications ABC inc., a communications research company, and is Secretary General of the Commission des Cadrans Solaires du Quebec)
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Make your own sundial at http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/kids/summer_activities/make_sundial.shtml Many interesting sundial designs http://www.sundials.co.uk/newdials.htm Sundials on the internet has many examples from all over the world http://www.sundials.co.uk/ Precession of the Equinoxes explains the way the Earth'??s rotation changes. This site has a good explanation and a useful animation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession A comprehensive explanation of many different calendars and how they work can be found at:http://astro.nmsu.edu/~lhuber/leaphist.html For Galileo, Huygens and Harrison go to the MacTutor website: http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/ National Maritime Museum: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/index.php Jackie Carson wrote in to us to recommend this article too: http://www.timecenter.com/articles/when-time-began-the-history-and-science-of-sundials/
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