Tom Wujec demos the 13th-century astrolabe

Rather than demo another new technology, Tom Wujec reaches back to one of our earliest but most ingenious devices -- the astrolabe. With thousands of uses, from telling time to mapping the night sky, this old tech reminds us that the ancient can be as brilliant as the brand-new.

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Cool - I'll stick to the printed plastic ones though (but a cast bronze one would be nice on the shelf). That should go well with my averaging octant (strangely labeled as an "integrating sextant").

By MadScientist (not verified) on 23 Dec 2009 #permalink