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Nonius (device)
Nonius is a measuring tool used in navigation and astronomy named in honour of its inventor, Pedro Nunes (Latin: Petrus Nonius), a Portuguese author, mathematician and navigator. The nonius was created in 1542 as a system for taking finer measurements on circular instruments such as the astrolabe. The system was eventually adapted into the Vernier scale in 1631 by the French mathematician Pierre Vernier. Technical features The nonius was used to improve the astrolabe's accuracy. This consisted of a number of concentric circles traced on an instrument and dividing each successive one with one fewer divisions than the adjacent outer circle. On a standard scale of 90 degrees, there are an additional 44–45 concentric circles, with each divided into a specific unit size such that a scale unit on position n had an arc of 90/n degrees. Thus, the outermost quadrant would comprise 90° in 90 equal divisions, the next inner would have 89 divisions, the next 88 and so on. When an angle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nonio Originale
Nonio is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Verbania. Nonio borders the following municipalities: Cesara, Omegna, Pella, Pettenasco, Quarna Sotto Quarna Sotto is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Verbania. Quarna Sotto borders the following municipalities: Nonio, Omeg ..., Varallo. References Cities and towns in Piedmont {{Verbania-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galaxies – in either observational astronomy, observational (by analyzing the data) or theoretical astronomy. Examples of topics or fields astronomers study include planetary science, Sun, solar astronomy, the Star formation, origin or stellar evolution, evolution of stars, or the galaxy formation and evolution, formation of galaxies. A related but distinct subject is physical cosmology, which studies the Universe as a whole. Types Astronomers usually fall under either of two main types: observational astronomy, observational and theoretical astronomy, theoretical. Observational astronomers make direct observations of Astronomical object, celestial objects and analyze the data. In contrast, theoretical astronomers create and investigate C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portuguese Inventions
The Portuguese inventions are the inventions created by the people born in Portugal (continent or overseas), or whose nationality is Portuguese. These inventions were created mainly during the age of Portuguese discoveries, and during modernity. Relying on trade secret explains, in part, the difficulty often experienced by researchers in documenting Portuguese inventions, as many are not described in patent documents, or other technical documents. On the other hand, there are cases, like some types of swords, where the inventions themselves or the underlying documents were lost, having been destroyed, for example, during the French invasions. There are as well documentation and objects of Portuguese origin in private collections or museums outside of Portugal. Discoveries The creation of new inventions in Portugal was at its peak during the Age of Discovery. These inventions consisted mainly in the improvement of devices and techniques of ocean navigation and coastal cart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transversal (instrument Making)
Transversals are a geometric construction on a scientific instrument to allow a graduation to be read to a finer degree of accuracy. Transversals have been replaced in modern times by vernier scales. This method is based on the Intercept theorem (also known as Thales's theorem). History Transversals were used at a time when finely graduated instruments were difficult to make. They were found on instruments starting in the early 14th century, but the inventor is unknown. In 1342 Levi Ben Gerson introduced an instrument called Jacob's staff (apparently invented the previous century by Jacob Ben Makir) and described the method of the transversal scale applied to the mentioned instrument. Thomas Digges mistakenly attributed the discovery of the transversal scale to the navigator and explorer Richard Chancellor (cited by some authors as watchmaker and with other names, among them: Richard Chansler or Richard Kantzler). Its use on astronomical instruments only began in the late 16th c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linear Encoder
A linear encoder is a sensor, transducer or readhead paired with a scale that encodes position. The sensor reads the scale in order to convert the encoded position into an analog or digital signal, which can then be decoded into position by a digital readout (DRO) or motion controller. The encoder can be either ''incremental'' or ''absolute.'' In an incremental system, position is determined by motion over time; in contrast, in an absolute system, motion is determined by position over time. Linear encoder technologies include optical, magnetic, inductive, capacitive and eddy current. Optical technologies include shadow, self imaging and interferometric. Linear encoders are used in metrology instruments, motion systems, inkjet printers and high precision machining tools ranging from digital calipers and coordinate measuring machines to stages, CNC mills, manufacturing gantry tables and semiconductor steppers. Physical principle Linear encoders are transducers that exploit many di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Numeric Control
Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a piece of material (metal, plastic, wood, ceramic, or composite) to meet specifications by following coded programmed instructions and without a manual operator directly controlling the machining operation. A CNC machine is a motorized maneuverable tool and often a motorized maneuverable platform, which are both controlled by a computer, according to specific input instructions. Instructions are delivered to a CNC machine in the form of a sequential program of machine control instructions such as G-code and M-code, and then executed. The program can be written by a person or, far more often, generated by graphical computer-aided design (CAD) or computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software. In the case of 3D printers, the part to be printed is "s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quadrant (instrument)
A quadrant is an instrument used to measure angles up to 90°. Different versions of this instrument could be used to calculate various readings, such as longitude, latitude, and time of day. Its earliest recorded usage was in ancient India in Rigvedic times by Rishi Atri to observe a solar eclipse. It was then proposed by Ptolemy as a better kind of astrolabe. Several different variations of the instrument were later produced by medieval Muslim astronomers. Mural quadrants were important astronomical instruments in 18th-century European observatories, establishing a use for positional astronomy. Etymology The term ''quadrant'', meaning one fourth, refers to the fact that early versions of the instrument were derived from astrolabes. The quadrant condensed the workings of the astrolabe into an area one fourth the size of the astrolabe face; it was essentially a quarter of an astrolabe. History During Rigvedic times in ancient India, quadrants called 'Tureeyam's were used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe ( ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe; generally called Tycho (14 December 154624 October 1601) was a Danish astronomer, known for his comprehensive astronomical observations, generally considered to be the most accurate of his time. He was known during his lifetime as an astronomer, astrologer, and alchemist. He was the last major astronomer before the invention of the telescope. An heir to several noble families, Tycho was well-educated. He took an interest in astronomy and in the creation of more accurate instruments of measurement. He worked to combine what he saw as the geometrical benefits of Copernican heliocentrism with the philosophical benefits of the Ptolemaic system, and devised the Tychonic system, his own version of a model of the universe, with the Sun orbiting the Earth, and the planets as orbiting the Sun. In ''De nova stella'' (1573), he refuted the Aristotelian belief in an unchanging celestial realm. His measurements indicated that "new stars" (''stellae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alidade
An alidade () (archaic forms include alhidade, alhidad, alidad) 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. The alidade sighting ruler was originally a part of many types of scientific and astronomical instrument. At one time, some alidades, particularly using circular graduations as on astrolabes, were also called ''diopters''. With modern technology, the name is applied to complete instruments such as the 'plane table alidade'. Origins The word in Arabic ( , "the ruler"), signifies the same device. In Greek and Latin, it is respectively called , "''dioptra''" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pedro Nunes
Pedro Nunes (; Latin: ''Petrus Nonius''; 1502 – 11 August 1578) was a Portuguese mathematician, cosmographer, and professor, from a New Christian (of Jewish origin) family. Considered one of the greatest mathematicians of his time, Nunes is best known for his contributions to the nautical sciences (navigation and cartography), which he approached, for the first time, in a mathematical way. He was the first to propose the idea of a loxodrome, and was the inventor of several measuring devices, including the nonius (from which Vernier scale was derived), named after his Latin surname. Life Little is known about Nunes' early education, life or family background, only that he was born in Alcácer do Sal, his origins are Jewish and that his grandchildren spent a few years behind bars after they were accused by the Portuguese Inquisition of professing and secretly practicing Judaism. He studied at the University of Salamanca, maybe from 1521 until 1522, and at the University o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quadrant (circle)
A circular sector, also known as circle sector or disk sector (symbol: ⌔), is the portion of a disk (a closed region bounded by a circle) enclosed by two radii and an arc, where the smaller area is known as the ''minor sector'' and the larger being the ''major sector''. In the diagram, is the central angle, r the radius of the circle, and L is the arc length of the minor sector. The angle formed by connecting the endpoints of the arc to any point on the circumference that is not in the sector is equal to half the central angle. Types A sector with the central angle of 180° is called a '' half-disk'' and is bounded by a diameter and a semicircle. Sectors with other central angles are sometimes given special names, such as quadrants (90°), sextants (60°), and octants (45°), which come from the sector being one 4th, 6th or 8th part of a full circle, respectively. Confusingly, the arc of a quadrant (a circular arc) can also be termed a quadrant. Compass Traditionally wind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concentric
In geometry, two or more objects are said to be concentric, coaxal, or coaxial when they share the same center or axis. Circles, regular polygons and regular polyhedra, and spheres may be concentric to one another (sharing the same center point), as may cylinders (sharing the same central axis). Geometric properties In the Euclidean plane, two circles that are concentric necessarily have different radii from each other.. However, circles in three-dimensional space may be concentric, and have the same radius as each other, but nevertheless be different circles. For example, two different meridians of a terrestrial globe are concentric with each other and with the globe of the earth (approximated as a sphere). More generally, every two great circles on a sphere are concentric with each other and with the sphere. By Euler's theorem in geometry on the distance between the circumcenter and incenter of a triangle, two concentric circles (with that distance being zero) are the cir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
