Heidelberg 2022 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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GP: Fachverband Geschichte der Physik

GP 8: Physics and Instruments

GP 8.2: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 23. März 2022, 10:50–11:10, GP-H7

Analysis of Portable Quadrants from Different Cultures — •Enes Tepe — Europa-Universität Flensburg, Auf dem Campus 1, 24943 Flensburg

Portable quadrants (rubˁal-dāˀiras) are instruments that were used for purposes such as astronomical observations, timekeeping, navigation, surveying, maritime, ballistics, and mathematical calculations for more than a Millennium. In a previous study (my MA thesis), the role of this class of instruments in classical astronomy was analyzed within the context of a comparison between the Islamic World and the Western Europe. For this purpose, information of surviving instruments that can be found through the online catalogues of museums and auctions were examined. Therefore, it has been shown that the astronomical portable quadrant traditions in Mamluk, Maghreb, Iran, Ottoman Syria, Ottoman, Continental Europe, Italy and England can be distinguished and studied in detail. In my current project, two of the most well-established portable quadrants, one from the Islamic World and the other from the West, are chosen in order to analyze the respective practice with the replication method. One of them is a quadrant of almucantars (rubˁal-muqanṭarāt) for Damascus by Zayn al-Dīn [Shams al-Dīn] Abū ˁAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ˁAbd al-Raḥīm al-Mizzī (d. 1349). The other one is a Sutton-type large quadrant by Henricus Sutton Londini (d. 1665) for London. In this talk, the prominence of these two instruments will be discussed and their general features of them will be shared.