Transverse scale for astronomical observation
Date
31 December 1673
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
vol6 p424
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 303mm
width (page): 178mm
width (page): 178mm
Subject
Description
Diagram of a transverse scale.
Johannes Hevelius’s Machina coelestis pars prior (Gdansk: S. Reiniger for J. Hevelius, 1673), included descriptions of the instruments Hevelius used for his astronomical observations. These included open-sighted astronomical instruments using transversal scales. Robert Hooke, in his Animadversions on the first part of the machine Coelestis (London: T.R. for John Martyn, 1674), criticised Hevelius for not using telescopic sights, given the limitations of human eyesight. In his letter dated 31 December 1673, John Wallis offered a mathematical justification for the use of transversal scales in this letter, thus siding with Hevelius in the subsequent dispute between Hooke and Hevelius about the appropriate instrument for accurate astronomical observations.
This diagram is a copy of the one at LBO/6/353. It occurs in the original letter at EL/W2/16/002.
Johannes Hevelius’s Machina coelestis pars prior (Gdansk: S. Reiniger for J. Hevelius, 1673), included descriptions of the instruments Hevelius used for his astronomical observations. These included open-sighted astronomical instruments using transversal scales. Robert Hooke, in his Animadversions on the first part of the machine Coelestis (London: T.R. for John Martyn, 1674), criticised Hevelius for not using telescopic sights, given the limitations of human eyesight. In his letter dated 31 December 1673, John Wallis offered a mathematical justification for the use of transversal scales in this letter, thus siding with Hevelius in the subsequent dispute between Hooke and Hevelius about the appropriate instrument for accurate astronomical observations.
This diagram is a copy of the one at LBO/6/353. It occurs in the original letter at EL/W2/16/002.
Related fellows
John Wallis (1650, British) , Mathematician
Johannes Hevelius (1611 - 1687, German/Polish) , Astronomer
Johannes Hevelius (1611 - 1687, German/Polish) , Astronomer
Associated place