1,000 Year Old Sky Map Is Like ‘World’s First Smartphone,’ Say Scientists

[maximus otter]

A rare eleventh-century Islamic astrolabe has been discovered in the vaults of a museum in Verona, Italy. One of the oldest examples ever found and one of only a handful known in the world, the astronomical instrument appears to have been used by people in Spain, North Africa, and Italy across many centuries.

Showing a two-dimensional model of the universe, astrolabes made it possible to plot the position of the stars, calculate time and distances, and develop horoscopes.

The rare artifact, though to be from the 11th century, was identified as such by Dr. Federica Gigante while looking at a photo on the website of the Fondazione Museo Miniscalchi-Erizzo.

The museum had suspected it was a fake. “It’s now the single most important object in their collection,” said Dr. Gigante.

From its inscriptions, the astrolabe appears to be from Al-Andalus, the Muslim-ruled area of Spain in the eleventh century.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiec...-like-worlds-first-smartphone-say-scientists/

maximus otter

 

[Yithian]

'World’s First Smartphone’​

Incredibly, this quotation is direct from Cambridge University—written by someone named Tom Almeroth-Williams, it seems.

It's a shame because his site is much better than the Forbes article's abbreviation of it:

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/verona-astrolabe

Palaeolithic Cave Art: like "World's First TV"!

Pterodactyl: like "World's First Plane"!

Rain: like "World's First Shower"!

 

[Ermintruder]

Incredibly, this quotation is direct from Cambridge University

This is a worrying example of ultrapopulist reductionism: perhaps this type of titular tabloidation was always going to happen (literally as per your humorous hyperbolæ).

Fascinating that the astrolabe is such a palimpsest (riveting, in fact: read on't).

Whilst appreciating its 'rosetta-like' multilingual marking, I puzzle over some of the specific expert detail in the simplified summaries aimed at us mere mortals eg

I can just see a very-superficial scratched (not engraved) "36"...but in any case, surely 'Western' numerals are actually Arabic?

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

This is a worrying example of ultrapopulist reductionism: perhaps this type of titular tabloidation was always going to happen (literally as per your humorous hyperbolæ).

Fascinating that the astrolabe is such a palimpsest (riveting, in fact: read on't).

Whilst appreciating its 'rosetta-like' multilingual marking, I puzzle over some of the specific expert detail in the simplified summaries aimed at us mere mortals eg

View attachment 74474
I can just see a very-superficial scratched (not engraved) "36"...but in any case, surely 'Western' numerals are actually Arabic?

And Arabic numerals are actually Hindu:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hindu-Arabic-numerals

That crudely scratched 36 certainly does appear to be a later embellishment.

 

[Floyd]

This is a worrying example of ultrapopulist reductionism: perhaps this type of titular tabloidation was always going to happen (literally as per your humorous hyperbolæ).

Fascinating that the astrolabe is such a palimpsest (riveting, in fact: read on't).

Whilst appreciating its 'rosetta-like' multilingual marking, I puzzle over some of the specific expert detail in the simplified summaries aimed at us mere mortals eg

View attachment 74474
I can just see a very-superficial scratched (not engraved) "36"...but in any case, surely 'Western' numerals are actually Arabic?

I just read the link and thought the same thing at first, but presumed 'western' was used here to distinguish between 'Arabic' so as not to add any confusion regarding the Arabic inscriptions. ?

 

[Floyd]

That crudely scratched 36 certainly does appear to be a later embellishment.

As it says in the article;

All sides of the astrolabe’s plates feature lightly scratched markings in Western numerals, translating and correcting the latitude values, some even multiple times. Dr Gigante thinks it is highly likely that these additions were made in Verona for a Latin or Italian language speaker.