Bartolomeo Cristofori

Bartolomeo Cristofori was born in 1655 and died in 1731. He was born in Padua, Italy, although not much else is known about his childhood. Bartolomeo was a musician, however, and one of the first legitimate records of his life comes from his employment under Ferdinando di Medici. Bartolomeo was 33 at the time, and although the exact terms under which he was hired are unknown, there is little doubt that it was based upon his incredible aptitude for music.

He quickly began to show his skills not only in the musical field, but as an engineer and inventor. In the 1700's he invented two keyboard instruments, the "spinnetone" and the "oval spinnet." His most notable musical invention was another keyboard instrument, the piano. Originally called the "Arpicembalo," the piano was first described in an inventory of the Medici's in the year 1700. As Bartolomeo aged, he was aided by Giovanni Ferrini who went on to continue Bartolomeo's work after his death in 1731.

Bartolomeo Cristofori: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CristoforiBildnis.jpg

Crisofori's Piano: http://www.ptg.org/images/museum/cristofori.jpg

Christian Huygens

Christian Huygens was Dutch scientist who was born in 1629 and died 1695. He often spelt his name Christiaan Hugens but today it is most commonly spelt Huygens. He was a physicist, mathematition, astronmer, and did a lot of work with light. He made many contributions to these fields. In astronomy, he was the first to discover Saturn's moon Titan and explain Saturn's elongation as rocky rings in 1655. In 1656 he invented the first pendulum clock. This clock was at first accurate to 1 minute. After he refined it though it became accurate to 10 seconds. He is most famous for making lenses of large focal length. After 1681 he devoted himself to making telescopes that had focal lengths of 123 ft, 180 ft, and 210 ft. It was around this time that he made the achromatic eyepiece, or compoound eyepiece for telescopes. This piece is actually named after him.
Before he died he also designed a combustion fuel engine that was powered by gun powder, met Issac Newton, and wrote a book about life on other planets.



Information and picture- http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_huygens.htm
Picture of achromatic eyepiece- http://www.frostydrew.org/observatory/courses/scopes/huygens.gif

Jethro Tull 1701

Jethro Tull was from England and recieved an education in Law from Oxford. After leaving Oxford Tull began to travel around Europe while studying agriculture. Tull's interest in agriculture would prove to be useful in his future. Tull ended up inheriting land in Southern England where he would put to use his study of agriculture.

In 1701 Tull invented the seed drill and horse drawn hoe. Tull's seed drill would replace the need to sow seeds by hand. The machine drilled small holes in the Earth in which to sow the seeds and then cover them up. At the time Tull found his invention to be a failure and waste of time due to the fact that many of his seeds would never take root. Little did he know that his first steps to applying science to agriculture would vastly help imrove the field of agriculture in the future.


http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bljethrotull.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/tull_jethro.shtml

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/agricultural_engineering/1955-289.aspx


Deirdra O'Donnell

John Lethbridge

John Lethbridge (1675- 1759) was from Devon of South West England. He had a large family with a supposed 17 children, and worked as a wool merchant in Newton Abbot. In 1715 he invented a diving machine that would be used to retrieve "treasure" from wrecked ships. His machine consisted of an airtight oak barrel that allowed a diver to be underwater long enough to bring the items up to the surface. It was six feet long and about two and a half feet around the top, and one and half feet at the bottom. It also had two arm holes and a window an inch and a quarter thick on the top. One would lie on their stomach while inside, and there would be two holes on the top (plugged while underwater) for air, and also a hole in the bottom part to let water out. It would have to be lifted by some sort of crane in order to get it into the water, and required 500 pounds to sink. John Lethbridge was able to stay in the suite for about 35 minutes, and would go as far as twelve fathoms (about 72 feet) deep.

For a picture of the diving suite : http://www.scubatoys.com/navy/images/1-4.jpg

Thomas Savery

Thomas Savery was born around 1650. He was English, born at Shilstone, a house near Devon in England. He became a military engineer, with a rank of Captain. He invented an early steam engine, as well as a machine for polishing marble or glass (1696). He also thought of using a paddle wheel to propel ships, but the idea was rejected by the Admiralty. The steam engine was invented in 1692, and was supposed to be used to drain mines, move water, and drive mills that didn't have wind or water to run them. In 1702 he published a book, The Miner's Friend, in which he described the machine, and made the claim that it could be used to pump water out of mines. The engine could lift water, but only to about 30 feet, until the pressure in the boiler was used, at which point it could lift water to about 50 feet. Unfortunately, the joints on the boiler were not really strong enough to withstand the extra pressure, so the machine had to be repaired often. Thus, the machine was not reliable when at full pressure, and eventually the idea of raising water with it was given up.

Photo of Savery: http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/thurston/1878/pp31.gif
Photo of Steam Engine: http://www.mgsteam.btinternet.co.uk/engdev.htm Visible as move down page.

http://www.timelineindex.com/content/view/2165
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Savery

Alessandro Volta

Count Alessandro Guiseppe Antoni Anastasio Volta created the electric cell (called a voltaic pile) in 1800. He was a Lombard physicist (Italy) who lived from 1745-1827. He also improved the electrophorus in 1775, which was first created in 1764, that produced a static electric charge. In 1778 he discovered and isolated methane gas. In 1791 he began to experiment with electricity and animals such as frogs to discover what today is known as electrolytes, which would conduct and detect electricity. By doing this, he discovered the electrochemical series and the law that describes electromotive force. The electric cell he created was an early electric battery that used brine water and zinc and copper to produce a steady electric current.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/page/v/volta.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Volta

A picture of Alessandro Volta:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Volta.PNG

A picture of the voltaic pile:
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/batteries-3.gif
http://www.batteryfacts.co.uk/images/History/VoltaicPile.jpg

Anders Celsius (1701-1744)

Anders Celsius was born on January 27, 1701 in Uppsala, Sweden. He came from a very science oriented family. Both of his grandfathers were professors in Uppsala: Magnus Celsius the mathematician and Anders Spole the astronomer. Ander's father, Nils Celsius was also a professor in astronomy. It has been said that from a very early age, Celsius was talented in mathematics. He was because of this that he was appointed as a professor of astronomy in 1730. In 1732, Celsius journeyed throughout Europe visiting all of the notable observatories. In 1736, the french astronomer Pierre Louis de Maupertuis invited him to assist him in an expedition. The purpose of this journey was to measure the length of a degree along a meridian, close to the pole, and compare the result with a similar expedition to Peru near the Equator. The expeditions confirmed Newton's belief that the shape of the earth is an ellipsoid flattened at the poles.

Celsius became pretty famous due to his participation in this expedition and was able to build his own observatory in 1740. In those days, geographical measurements, meteorological observations and other things were included in the work of an astronomy professor.

For his meteorological observations, Celsius constructed the Celsius thermometer, with the boiling point at 0 and the freezing point at 100.

After making other minor contributions to the science world, Anders Celsius died of tuberculosis in April of 1744 at the age of 42. It was after his death, that the Celsius scale was reversed to its present form.

Anders Celsius Pic:
http://th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/~jr/gif/stamps/s_celsius.jpg
http://www.astro.uu.se/history/images/celsius_face.jpg

Celsius Thermometer:
http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/f/fotos/fahrenheit.gif

References:
www.astro.uu.se/history/Celsius_eng.html
http://www.surveyor.in-berlin.de/himmel/Bios/Celsius-e.html

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) was a German physicist and inventor of scientific instruments. He is best known for inventing the mercury thermometer and the temperature scale which bears his name. He also discovered that water can remain liquid beneath its freezing point and that the boiling point of liquid varies with barometric pressure. Until the 1970's, the Fahrenheit scale was used mainly in English speaking countries. Since then, many countries have adopted the Celsius scale for scientific experiments.


http://www.eoearth.org/media/approved/e/e8/Fahrenheit.jpg
http://www.germes-online.com/direct/dbimage/10340276/Glass_Tube_Thermometer.jpg

John Shore

John Shore (c. 1662-1752) was a trumpeter, lutenist, and violinist in the English court. In 1711 Shore invented the tuning fork, which is a device that resonates a constant pitch when struck. Tuning forks are used in orchestras to tune instruments and in medicine to assess hearing and sensitivity to vibrations. They are also used in alternative medical treatments, such as polarity therapy. Shore's tuning fork had a pitch of A 423.5 Hz; modern tuning forks have a standard pitch of A 440 Hz.

http://www.answers.com/topic/john-shore
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Tuning_fork
http://www.uk-piano.org/history/pitch.html

Assignment #2

I apologize for the delay, but I was waiting for all the students, even the late ones to make a first post.

This assignment is due by Friday, February 6th, by midnight. Late assignments will be docked 5 points per hour they are late. Please post early and on time. Also, where applicable, provide a link to any website or information you use--do not post images directly to the blog.

Assignment 2.

Briefly discuss an inventor/engineer (not discussed in class) who lived in Europe between 1650 and 1800. Give a brief synopsis of their life and the invention/design/creation they are famous for. Provide a link to any images of 1) the inventor/engineer and 2) what they invented.

Do not copy anyone from the first assignment! Do not duplicate anyone already done for the assignment. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have not duplicated another individual's post.

Do not simply copy and paste anything from another website. This is supposed to be in your own words and should be written as paragraphs, not just bullet points or a list. The average length should be a full paragraph or two.

Good luck!

Johann Kiefuss

Johann Kiefuss

The Wheel-lock Firing Mechanism

Gunpowder was introduced to Europe several centuries before handheld firearms were developed and introduced onto the battlefield. Gun powder weapons were slowly improved upon and modified to become more portable and easier to fire. Some time around 1300 the “Hand Cannon” (Figure 1) first appeared on the battlefield. A couple hundred years later, the arquebus (or hackbut) (Figure 2) was introduced to the battlefield, a class of weapon that dramatically changed warfare. Now, a single man could transport and operate a powerful killing apparatus with minimum training.

The earliest firing mechanism for the arquebus was a matchlock, which is simply a slow burning rope lowered to ignite the ballistics’ charge. This system was susceptible to weather and not suitable for surprise attacks. The wheel lock was developed in Germany, possibly by the gunsmith Johann Kiefuss of Nuremburg, to resolve both of these issues. He did so by creating a spring loaded mechanism that sent sparks into the firing pan, allowing for the weapon to be concealed in a ready position, fired quickly, and operated in poor weather. This was a “tremendous advance” over the matchlock.

http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/02/04706946/0470694602.pdf

Handbook of Firearms and Ballistics (Second Edition)

http://www.saf.org/journal/9_wheel.html

Article produced by the Second Amendment Foundation

Images:

Figure 1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HandBombardWesternEurope1390-1400.jpg

Figure 2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ArquebusClipAndColor.jpg

Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468) was born in the German city of Mainz. His father was a goldsmith so Gutenberg grew up knowing the trade of goldsmithing. In 1440, he unveiled his process and secret printing press. He invented the first printing press using movable type around 1439. This process was used until the 20th century. This new printing process modernized printing, making it easier and simple. Gutenberg was attributed with the invention of a process for movable type, the use of oil-based ink, and the use of a wooden printing press. His new press could print three pages every minutes which made printed to the masses available. The majority of his early printings were religious materials, including indulgences, like ,"95 Theses" that Martin Luther posted on the door of his church.

References and Pictures:
Wikipedia
Idea Finder
Enchanted Learning

John Harington

Sir John Harington

Inventor of the Flushing Toilet

Sir John Harington was born in 1561 to an illegitimate daughter of King Henry VIII, providing him a life of privilege allowing him to be well educated. He was accepted to the court of Queen Elizabeth as one of her god-children, where he wrote poetry and translated literature. Later he was also accepted, though with some trouble, into the court of James I. Though Sir Herington was primarily concerned with literature, he is best known for inventing the first flushing toilet. He wrote about the invention, which he installed at Queen Elizabeth’s palace at Richmond, Surry, in a book titled The Metamorphosis of Ajax. However, the satirical nature of his writing on the unpleasant subject led to a temporary suspension on his access to the Queen’s court. Nevertheless, the book did outline what his invention was and how it could be installed.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/255314/Sir-John-Harington

http://www.ilab.org/db/book1598_%5B30946%5D.html

(International League of Antiquarian Booksellers)

Niccolo Fontana "Tartaglia"

Niccolo Fontana was the inventor of the gunner’s quadrant in 1545. This was a piece of equipment used for aiming cannons. It was basically a carpenters square with a quarter of a circle connecting the ends of the square. The pumb bob is a rope that was attached to the square and used to measure the angle of the cannon barrel when lined up with the circle.This allowed the cannon to be aimed at 45 degrees for the longest distance. Niccolo Fontana was also known as Tartaglia. He was born in 1499 or 1500 in Brescia and died on December 13 1557 in Venice. He was a self taught engineer and a mathematician who also came up with a method for solving binomial coefficients and a solution to cubic equations.

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Tartaglia.html
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/source/is3/is3e.htm

Pierre Vernier

Pierre Vernier (1580-1637) was an inventor and mathematician who lived in Habsburg Spain (modern day France). He is best known for inventing the Vernier caliper, which is an instrument used to make linear measurements. He was taught by his father, Claude Vernier, who was a scientist, and Pierre quickly grew interest in measuring devices. During his adult life however, he started to work in the Spanish government and later in the French government. Science was more of a hobby than a career. In 1631, Pierre published a book titled "The Construction, Uses, and Properties of a New Mathematical Quadrant", which described his new instrument. This new tool allowed more accurate measurements over any previous methods. Vernier calipers are still used to this day by engineers, scientists, and many others. Vernier is now a name used to describe a small movable scale on calipers, micrometers, and barometers.

References:
Wikipedia
Britannica Online Encyclopedia
Modern Day Vernier Calipers

Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola

Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola was an architect born on October 1st, 1507 and died on July 7, 1513. He was an Italian Architect who is best known for the Villa Farnese and Church of the Gesu. He was born in Vignola and studied architecture in Bologna and Rome. In 1550, he was appointed architect to Pope Julius III, where he worked closely with Michalangleo. After the death of Pope Julius III, Vignola stopped working for the Church and mainly worked for the Farnese Family.

He was a very influential architect in the Mannerist style. He published two books, 'Regole delle cinque ordini d'architettura' in 1563, and the 'Due regole della prospettiva pratica,' which was published posthumously. These two books would become great influences to other Mannerist architects mainly because they were written for amateur architects.

Pictures:
Giacomo Barozzi
http://digilander.libero.it/angs.roma/barozzi1.jpg
Villa Farnese
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/16/8816-004-B0F9941C.jpg
Church of the Gesu
http://www.gtomessiah.com/graphics/gesu.jpg

References:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15428a.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacopo_Barozzi

Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal was born on June 19th 1623 and died on August 19th 1662. He was a French inventor best known for inventing the second mechanical calculator and for making significant contributions to mathematics. He invented the prototype when he was 19 to help his father work more efficiently. Pascal claimed to have sold dozens of the machines, but only made 50 total. The calculators were very expensive and complex, but could only add and subtract. One advantage to having a Pascal calculator was the ability to work with numbers up to 9,999,999. The machine itself consisted of several dials and the internal parts were very complex. Pascal died in 1662 from either tuberculosis or stomach cancer.

Picture of Pascal's Calculator:
http://www.hongwanjihi.org/Web2003/links/compHist/Pict_Comp_Hist/pascal_calculator_inside.jpg

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal#Last_works_and_death
http://www.thocp.net/biographies/pascal_blaise.html

Faust Vrančić - Parachute

Faust Vrančić (1551-1617), born in Šibenik (modern day Croatia), was the formal inventor of the parachute. Faust's life began with an interest in science. He went on to study in Padua and Venice, which he studied math, engineering and physics. He then developed connections with Kepler and Brahe. The idea of the parachute was an original da Vinci sketch. Faust took da Vinci's idea and modified to his own. In 1617, Faust tested his design on top of a building in Venice, 20 years after examining da Vinci's designs. This event was not documented until 30 years after his experiment. Faust then died that same year in Venice and was then buried in Prvić island. 

For a sketch of the design: Click Here

Faust had a very broad interest in engineering and mechanics. He also took an interest in windmills, in which he worked to make them more efficient. Because of his success in designing more effective windmills, the Pope ordered Faust to come up with a system to regulate the rivers, mostly the Tiber River, of Rome because of flooding. Faust also engineered new systems to control the water supply in Venice and created new devices that could register and tell time using fire and water. 

References:

Wikipedia

About.com

Nicholas of Cusa

Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) was a German theologian, a philosopher, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. His writings influenced the development of Renaissance mathematics and science. One of his most recognized books was De Docta Ignorantia (Of Learned Ignorance); he argued that any reason was not an appropriate determination of truth and stressed the incomplete nature of man’s knowledge of God and of the universe. In mathematics, he proposed significant concepts of the infinitesimal and contributed to modern relativity theory. His writings were crucial for Leibniz’s discovery of calculus as well as Cantor’s later work on infinity. He was the first to discover the benefits of concave lenses for the treatment of myopia in 1451.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_of_Cusa
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Concave-lens
http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/a/Seventeenth.htm

Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464)
http://www.haverford.edu/library/reference/mschaus/cusanus/cusanus.html

Concave lenses to correct myopia
http://www.richardpetrie.com/images/nearsi.gif

Otto von Guericke

Otto von Guericke was a German inventor who is credited with inventing the air pump in 1650. He was born in Mageburg, Germany in 1602, where he served as major from 1646-1676. In 1650 he invented an air pump. The pump contained a piston and an air gun cylinder. It was built with two-way flaps that were used to extract air out from connected vessels. This enabled Guericke to invent the partial vacuum. These pumps were used to help Guericke to study vacuums and their role combustion and respiration. The earlier pumps were used for fire fighting, where enourmous volumes of air could be extracted using static methods.

The following link will lead to a picture of both Otto von Guericke and his invention of the air pump.
http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/history/guericke.html

Andreas Ruckers

Although it is difficult to date the actual date of the invention of the harpsichord, the entire Ruckers family is accredited with much of the development of the harpsichord, as well as producing some of the most elegant harpsichords. in particular, Andreas Ruckers' harpsichords featured 2 rows of keys, a fourth of an octave apart, which allowed easier transposing for the baroque music of the time.

The harpsichord is a stringed instrument much like the grand piano (although the piano is technically percussion). the only real difference between a harpsichord and a grand piano is that the harpsichord plucks its strings, where as a piano hits its strings. Almighty Wikipedia provided me with some very good photographic examples of how exactly a harpsichord plucks its strings, so if you're interested, check out the Wikipedia link (or just Google harpsichord, and click the first link). also, the Ruckers family appears to have some amazing artistic skills too, so check out the 2nd website for some awesome pictures of their harpsichords.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpsichord
http://www.usd.edu/smm/Keyboards/RuckersHarpsichord10000/Ruckers1643.html

Johannes Kepler 1571-1630

Johannes Kepler was born on 27 December 1571 in Weil der Stadt. He was one of the most important scientist in the field of astronomy. He was the first scientist to explain planetary motion in his "Celestial Mechanics". He was also the first one to study the beginnings of integral calculus, making great advances in the studies of geometry. He also discovered the planetary laws; these laws are:
1)The orbit of a planet about the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun's center of mass at one focus.
2)A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time.
3)The squares of the periods of the planets are proportional to the cubes of their semi-major axes.

Kepler replaced Copernicus' circular heliocentric orbits by ellipses. He came to these conclusion not only through mathematical approaches but by mythical insights that he had in his life. Kepler died in Regensburg, after a short illness. He was buried in the local church but after the Thirty Years War, it was destroyed and nothing was left of the tomb.

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Diagrams/Kepler_polyhedra.gif

http://www.ph.surrey.ac.uk/astrophysics/files/Kepler.gif

Giovanni Branca

Born April 22, 1571 Giovanni Branca, who was an Italian physicist, is credited with providing the first description as well as invention of a steam turbine engine. Branca published 77 woodcuts that depicted a steam turbine along with a description of how to turn a wheel by shooting jets of steam against the outer rim of a wheel. In 1629 Branca invented a stamping mill that used steam jets to rotate a turbine that operated the machine. He died January 24, 1645

Branca's Steam Turbine: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/BracaDampturbin.jpg

Another Jet Turbine: http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/mvigeant/therm_1/je2/branca.gif

William Gascoigne

In 1612 Gascoigne was born in the UK. He became very interested in astronomy and was a strong follower of Kepler's work. He made instruments for different scientific fields with a specific emphasis on astronomical instruments such as the telescope. While working on some optical arrangement in 1936, he discovered that using a screw like structure could adjust the optical device, therefore leading to the invention of the micrometer.
A micrometer is a device similar to a screw that measures certain astronomical distances. It's often used within telescopes to measure distances between stars based on angles. Today, micrometers are still a large part of the study of astronomy, as well as a device used for countless engineering projects and a variety of machines.

Micrometer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Micrometer_caliper_parts_0001.png

Micrometer: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Gascoigne%27s_micrometer_as_drawn_by_Robert_Hooke_.jpg

Cornelis Drebbel

Cornelis Drebbel was born in the Netherlands in 1572. He was basically educated and later apprenticed to a painter and engraver and it is believed that this is where he gained his interest in alchemy. He gained his fame for his invention of a perpetual motion machine which was able to tell the time, date, and season. Then in 1619 he began work on a device that would eventually revolutionize naval warfare. It was the submarine. He built three submarines each one consecutively bigger. The largest of the three was able to carry 16 people 12 of which where the rowers. The design was basically two row boats stuck together covered in greased leather, with a watertight hatch in the middle, a rudder and four oars. Under each of the rowers' seats were pigskin bladders which were connected by pipes to the outside. Then rope was used to tie off the empty bladders. In order for the sub to dive, the rope was untied and the bladders filled with water. Then to surface the crew squashed the bladders flat, squeezing out the water. It was demonstrated to the King and thousands of London citizens on the Thames river. The sub could stay submerged for three hours at a depth of 15 feet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/drebbel_cornelis.shtml

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Drebbelprent.jpg/200px-Drebbelprent.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1148/582028687_d859d0cf82.jpg?v=0

Gerardus Mercator

Gerardus Mercator is considered to be the leading mapmaker of the 15^th century. He was born on March 5, 1518, in Dumpelonde, Flanders (Belgium) and attended the University of Levine where he studied humanities and graduated with a degree in philsophy in1532. After a short stay in Antwerp, Mercator realized he was interested in cosmography and the study of heaven and earth. It was for this reason, that he began studying under his friend, Gemma Frisius, who was a Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer at the University of Levine. Under Frisius, Mercator learned how to make instruments such as compasses and sundials. At the age of 24, he married Barbara Schellekens and had six children.

Mercator published his first masterpiece, a map of Europe, in 1554. Fifteen years later, he released his last and most notable work, a map of the world. Before Mercator, seafarers had a serious problem: there were not any dependable carts. The indications on their compasses never seemed to agree with the indications of the carts. Because of this issue, seafarers would constantly miss their destination by hundreds of kilometers. Mercator was able to solve this issue. In 1569, he projected the world onto a cylinder having the parallels and meridians intersect each other perpendicularly and stretching the distances on the parallels with the same factor as the distances on the meridians. He was able to draft a map on which a rhumb can be represented as a straight line. A rhumb is a curve which cuts every meridian under the same angle. Mercator made his carts only for navigation and they were worldwide for a long time. Mercator projection became the standard projection for navigational maps.

Although the shapes, surfaces, and the distances between countries were almost correct in Mercator’s projections, a globe was still considered to be the best representation of the earth. In 1541, Mercator made a globe of chips of wood, covered with linen and plaster. On top of this sphere, he stuck twelve pieces of paper which he colored himself.

When Mercator died at the age of 82, his grandchildren inherited his work but they sold it to a Dutch cartographer, Jodocus Hondius, who made a great deal of money with Mercator’s legacy.

http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images/mar5_mercator.jpg

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/media/uploads/2007/11/mercator_1569.png

Santorio Santorio

Santorio Santorio was educated at the University of Padua. He received an M.D. degree at the age of 21. He worked as a doctor and an educator. Santorio invented several instruments such as a wind gauge, a water current meter (pulsilogium), and was the first to put a numerical scale on the thermoscope, which evolved into the thermometer. Santorio is most famous for his theory of perspiratio insensibilis. For a period of years, he weighed himself, everything he ate and drank, as well as his shit and urine. Through this study, he discovered that much of what was consumed was lost to insensible perspiration. Brilliant man.

Peter Henlein

Peter Henlein was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1480 and lived till 1542. He was a locksmith and clock maker. He is a man of much controversy. In 1504, a scuffle in the street lead to the death of Georg Glasser, a fellow locksmith. Henlein and two other locksmiths were suspected of the crime. To avoid persecution in these harsh times, Henlein fled to a Franciscan monastery for protection. During his exile, Henlein began to design and build the first pocket watch. It is believed that he got the idea after seeing an ornate pomander, an orb like device that was used to dispense fragrances believed to ward off sickness and evil spirits. Until this time, clocks were only available in church towers, on tables and wall mounted. They were also finicky about their placement and orientation. The key to his portable watch was the invention of the balanced spring which enabled the development of more accurate spring driven clocks. His pocket watch, called a Taschenuhr and developed around 1505, could run for 40 hours without being rewound and possessed a single hour hand.


As close as could be found to the watch he developed

Example of a pomander

Peter Henlein

William Oughtred

William  Oughtred (1574-1660) is credited with inventing the slide rule circa the early 1600’s. Oughtred was an ordained Episcopal minister who self taught himself in the area of mathematics. He opened a school for young men interested in mathematics, and one of his students, Edmund Gunter, is credited with finding the logarithmic scale.

The slide rule was a device used in similar fashion to a modern day pocket calculator. Several mathematicians discovered that adding logarithms could be used to do multiplication around 1614.  These numbers were placed on a number line relative to their value, thus creating the logarithmic scale. Measuring the distance between the numbers could be used to multiply or divide. William Oughtred came up with the concept of  placing two logarithmic scales on sliding boards in order to easily add and subtract the multiplied logarithmic numbers from each other. This method reduced the amount of  work required by multiplication of large numbers, by eliminating the task of looking up the corresponding logarithms for a number, and eliminated the need to measure the distance between numbers on the scale.

Slide rules were used and improved upon for nearly 300 years after their invention, even in aiding NASA’s landing on the moon.

 

http://www.thocp.net/biographies/oughtred_william.htm

 

http://www.hpmuseum.org/sliderul.htm

 

Written by

Zoe Morozko

Hans Lippershey

Hans Lippershey is the man credited with the design of the first practical telescope. Hans was a German-Dutch lens maker. Originally born n Western Germany Hans settled in the Netherlands in 1594 where he spent the rest of his life. It is believed that crude telescopes and spyglasses existed before Hans' invention; however, Hans applied for a patent to his design before anyone else. His design and invention were made available for general use in 1608.

Hans sold his design to the Dutch government for a handsome price. It became known as the "Dutch perspective glass", and could only magnify things three times. Even though it seems like nothing compared to the telescopes that exist today Lippershey's invention lead to greater experimentations and better modifications to his original design. Lippershey's accomplishment was circulated throughout Europe through a diplomatic report. Many other scientists came into possession of the report and began working to improve the design, scientists such as Galileo Galilei. Due to his great invention that change the world and the science of astronomy forever, Lippershey has a crater on the moon and the small planet 31338 named after him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Lippershey

Written by
Deirdra O'Donnell

Wilhelm Schickard: The calculator

Wilhelm Schickard (1592-1635), the German born university professor and Lutheran minister was the inventor of the "calculating clock", the first mechnical calculator. His calculator, invented 1623, used eleven complete and six incomplete sprocket wheels which calculated addition and subtraction, up to six digits, but made it unprogrammable. This same mechanism is used in car odometers. The calculator, prior to the introduction of modern computers, had provided the basis for all modern calculators.

Born in Herrenberg, Germany, Schickard went to the University of Tubingen which he earned both a bachelors and a masters degree. He became a Lutheran minister after studying theology and oriental languages at his alma mater. Aside from becoming a professor of Hebrew and Astronomy at the University of Tubingen, he also invented a machine for calculating astronomical date and one for Hebrew grammar. He was a skilled wood and cooper engraver, and his advancements in mapmaking produced far more accurate maps than those available in his time. He died in 1653 in Tubingen, Germany of the bubonic plague


http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~ped/teachadmin/histsci/htmlform/lect3.html
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Wilhelm-Schickard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Schickard
http://www4.wittenberg.edu/academics/mathcomp/bjsdir/bjshistory.shtml

William Lee

http://www.students.bucknell.edu/rnakahar/craft.html

William Lee was an English inventor who made the stocking frame knitting machine in 1589. Lee was born in Calverton, Nottinghamshire. He entered Christ's College in Cambridge in 1579 as a sizar (student of limited means) and graduated from St. John's College in 1582. His invention converted the common practice of knitting with two needles into a mechanical process using a frame. The knitting frame would produce a woven sheet of fabric that could later be sewn into various articles of clothing. 250 years after this invention, there was little variation of the basic design that Lee invented. Variations that occurred later in English history include: the ribbing device in 1748, a warp-knitting machine in 1775, and a circular knitting machine in the mid-1800’s. Variations are continuously made to provide variation in fabrics for fashion purposes.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~leveritt/42_2_Stocking_Frame_Composite.JPG

Martin Behaim

Martin Behaim was born in 1459 in Nuremburg. He was famous for being a mapmaker, navigator and merchant. He was the inventor of “Nürnberg Terrestrial Globe". It was the idea of the "modern" globe. The globe was made from 1490-1492 and was painted by Georg Glockendon. This globe was actually very inaccurate when compared to others maps of the time. The globe was once thought to be used by Columbus and Magellan. He also had an influence in the discovery of the pacific passage called the Magalhães Straits. The credit was given to Magellan, but it is thought that the true brain behind the discovery was Behaim. The globe is now kept in the German National Museum in Nürnberg.

Picture of Martin Behaim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Behaim_Winsor.jpg

Picture of Globe
http://www.sheilahadley.co.uk/images/globes/behaim-globe.jpg

Urs Graf

Urs Graf was the first man to use etching as an art technique in 1513, although the technique had been used in the arms trade by, Bavarian, Daniel Hopfer. An etching is created by covering a metal plate with a layer of acid-resistant wax and then carving a design into the wax with a needle. After the design is carved, the metal plate is dipped in an acid bath where the exposed metal is transformed and the wax covered portions remain untainted. This process is said to "allow for a freer artistic hand than does engraving." Graf lived in Switzerland from 1485-1527 and entitled his first etching Girl Washing her Feet. Over the 16th and 17th centuries, etching evolved and gained popularity throughout Europe and was eventually adopted as Rembrandt's preferred medium.

http://www.utlib.ee/ekollekt/legraafika/eng/index.php?alumine=tehnikad.php
http://www.philaprintshop.com/whataprt.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=EJJupTu7mPwC&pg=PA330&lpg=PA330&dq=Urs+Graf+Girl+Washing+Her+Feet+1513&source=bl&ots=kmosE5a_gE&sig=s6TDBAaylVONMqICgB6mb2y16LQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result

Conrad Gesner

In 1565 Conrad Gesner invented the first graphite pencil. At this time, people believed that graphite was a form of lead because it had been used as a writing tool in the past. It's actually a crystallized form of carbon that can be easily removed. Graphite is particularly brittle and therefore it needed to be in some kind of casing. At first, pieces of string were wrapped around the graphite to make it stronger, but it would still break in use. When Gesner came along in 1565 he had the bright idea of placing the graphite in wooden sticks. The only problem was they needed to be hollowed out by hand. Many people believe this pencil is of great importance because it was the one used by Shakespeare. Gesner was also a botanist and spent much of his life's work in areas of zoology. 

Links:

 http://www.richardwolf.de/latein/gesnerco.JPG

Zacharias Janssen

Zacharias Janssen has been noted as either creating or being a contributor to the first compound microscope in 1595 and telescope in 1604 or earlier. Janssen was born in The Hague, a city in the Netherlands, in 1580. He grew up as a spectacle maker in Middelburg (also in the Netherlands). It is believed that his father helped him build the first compound microscope. Between 1613 and 1619, Janssen was tried multiple times for counterfeiting coins. He fled twice, but also escaped the death penalty when he was finally caught, due to the father of the bailiff being an accessory. His death is not recorded, but is thought to have occurred before 1632.

Hans Lippershay, who grew up nearly next door to Janssen, is the other person attributed to being the possible inventor of the telescope, but it is debatable. He created a patent for the microscope in 1608, and was better known than Janssen, which is probably why he is noted as being the possible creator.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zacharias_Janssen
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/janssen.html

A picture of Zacharias Jansen:
http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/esplora/cannocchiale/dswmedia/storia/immagini/01/06.jpg

A picture of “his” compound microscope:
http://clendening.kumc.edu/dc/rm/16_31p.jpg

Evangelista Torricelli

Evangelista Torricelli invented the mercury barometer in 1644. He was born in Faenza, Italy on October 15 1608. He was a supporter of Galileo’s work, and moved to Florence to work with him in 1641. Unfortunately, Galileo died three months later. It was Galileo’s idea to try mercury in the vacuum experiments Torricelli was conducting. Torricelli did so, and noticed that a vacuum was formed. Later, when pump makers were unable to raise water above 10 feet by suction, he tried to raise mercury instead. Using a one meter tube and a dish of mercury, he filled the tube with mercury and inverted it into the dish. The mercury level settled at 76 cm. As the weather changed, the level rose or fell. Torricelli then realized that this result was due to atmospheric pressure acting on the vacuum inside the tube.
Torricelli also studied the value of gravity, the quadrature of the cycloid and conics, the rectifications of the logarithmic spiral, the cause of wind, and the theory of projectiles and the motion of fluids. He discovered Torricelli’s Law, and the Torr, a unit of pressure, was named for him. He was also involved in building telescopes and simple microscopes and lenses. After Galileo’s death he became the grand-ducal mathematician and professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa. He died of typhoid fever on October 25, 1647 in Florence, Italy.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelista_Torricelli
http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventors/a/Barometer.htm
A drawing of the barometer: http://www.lake-link.com/images/fishinginfo/barometric_pressure.gif
A drawing of Evangelista Torricelli: http://z.about.com/d/inventors/1/G/r/W/Evangelista_Torricelli.jpg

Evangelista Torricelli

Evangelista Torricelli(1608-1647) was an Italian physicist who invented the first mercury barometer in 1643.  The mercury barometer is a device which measures air pressure using a glass tube filled with mercury. Torricelli used mercury in his barometer to create an extremely strong vacuum. This vacuum allowed pump-makers to raise water levels higher than previously possible with regular suction pumps. Torricelli's invention was credited when a unit of pressure, the torr, was named after him.

Torricelli was born in Faenza and was mentored by his uncle, a monk, after the loss of his father at a very young age. He was well educated and eventually became a student of a man whose work he greatly admired, Galileo. Torricelli took over Galileo's position as a professor at the University of Pisa shortly after Galileo's death. During his time as a professor, Torricelli invented the mercury barometer and made improvements to microscopes and telescopes. He died of typhoid fever and now has an asteroid named after him.

Torricelli

Mercury Barometer

John Harington

Sir John Harington was a British author and courtier born on August 4, 1561. He invented the predecessor to the modern flushing toilet, the Ajax. It was also called a water closet. Sir Harington was a rebellious godson to Queen Elizabeth. She is actually the first person to get one of Harington's water closets in 1596. She never used it though, but it did gain some popularity in France. He was married in 1583 and ended up having fifteen children with his wife. 29 years later he died in Kelston.

Here is a picture of the Ajax, the predecessor to the modern flushing toilet: http://www.abertilleryanddistrictmuseum.org.uk/Images/toilet1.jpg

Resources:
- http://www.cbc.ca/kids/general/the-lab/history-of-invention/default.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flush_toilet
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harington_(inventor)

Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg was the German inventor of the printing press in 1440. Gutenberg was born around 1395 to a wealthy family in Mainz, Germany. He was fortunate to be able to read, which was uncommon during the time. He liked to read, but books were also uncommon since they had to be hand written. Gutenberg then went on to invent a printing press that involved small letters crafted of metal that produced movable print. He would make a template and place the letters as desired and then cover the letters in ink. He could reuse and rearrange letters. He was then able to print books much faster and at a more affordable cost. He went on printing for most of his life.

for a picture of Gutenberg.. http://portrait.kaar.at/Deutschsprachige%20Teil%201/images/johannes_gutenberg.jpg

for a picture of the printing press.. http://www.nwlink.com/~Donclark/history_knowledge/printpress.jpg

Leone Battista Alberti

Leone Battista Alberti invented the first anemometer (an-uh-mom-i-ter) in 1450. It was a swing anemometer that was later redesigned in the 1800s. An anemometer measures the wind's velocity and pressure. Leone's anemometer measured velocity. Leone Alberti was not only an inventor but also an architect, author, painter, poet, philosopher, and cryptographer. He is best known for his architectural works and his writings on painting, beauty, and architecture. Leone was also important to the field of cryptology. He invented the first polyalphebetic cipher and machine assisted cipher disk. Some even call him the father of western cryptology. He was the illegitimate son of Lorenzo Alberti. Because of this he was able to go to the best schools in Italy. Before his inventing, he received a doctorate in cannon law and served as papal inspector of monuments.

http://www.comitatinazionali.librari.beniculturali.it/upload/immagini/Leon%20Battista%20Alberti,%20ritratto.jpg - picture of Leone Alberti

http://plus.maths.org/issue34/features/ekert/alberti_disk.jpg - picture of Alberti Disk

1st Assignment

This is the first blogger assignment. It is due on Monday, January 26th by midnight. Late assignments will be docked 5 points per hour they are late. Please post early and on time. Also, where applicable, provide a link to any website or information you use--do not post images directly to the blog.

Assignment 1.

Briefly discuss an inventor/engineer (not discussed in class) who lived in Europe between 1400 and 1650. Give a brief synopsis of their life and the invention/design/creation they are famous for. Provide a link to any images of 1) the inventor/engineer and 2) what they invented.

EACH INDIVIDUAL MUST BE UNIQUE! NO REPEATS!

Do not simply copy and paste anything from another website, especially not from Wikipedia. This is supposed to be in your own words and should be written as paragraphs, not just bullet points or a list. The average length should be a full paragraph or two. Copying and pasting directly from any website will result in an automatic failure of that week's assignment and continued violations may result in automatic failure of the course.

Welcome!

This is the first posting for the History of Science course being offered at the Florida Institute of Technology during the Spring 2009 term.

Throughout the semester, weekly or bi-weekly assignments will be posted here for you to complete as part of the course requirements. You will have until Monday midnight before the beginning of the next week to complete the assignment (or the date and time included in the assignment). All new assignments will be posted on Tuesday morning (or given out in class first). Please do not fall behind in your assignments.

When posting any images, pleasing make sure you link the url directly in your post. Do not post the image directly to the blog! Try not to link, copy or use material that specifically says you may not use it without the owner's permission. If you have any questions, ask me before you post.

Also, if you are having problems seeing your post show up, please make sure you republish the entire blog. If you are still having problems seeing your post show up, sometimes it is best to log out of the blog, then log back in. The post usually shows up at that point. If it doesn't, send me an email.

If you already have a blogger ID, please email that name and your email so that I can send you an invite to the blog. Email me at mruane@fit.edu. I will go over the blogger instructions in the first class.

All students must be registered for the blog prior to the start of class on Thursday, January 22nd.