Erasmus habermel, meridiana, 1580 ca, rame dorato

Erasmus Habermehl, also Erasmus Habermel (ca. 1538 – 15 November 1606 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

) was a major

watchmaker A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...

and maker of astronomics and

geodesy Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...

instruments of the 16th century, who last worked as a court instrument maker at the court of Emperor Rudolf II. in Prague. Sextant Habermehl

He probably originated in southern Germany and probably reached Prague via Nuremberg, the centre of

watchmaking A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...

art at the time. A brass box signed "Erasmus Habermel Pragae 1576" is considered his earliest known work. He married a Susanna Solis there in 1593 or 1594. In the same year he was appointed "Kay: Mt: Astronomischer und Geometrischer Instrumentmacher".Reinhard Glasemann: ''Erde, Sonne, Mond & Sterne''. In ''Schriften des Historischen Museums'', No. 20. Frankfurt/M 1999, , . He received commissions from

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 k ...

and Francesco Padua di Forli, the personal physician (and at the same time alchimist) of the emperor. In addition to their outstanding technical precision, his instruments were at the same time artistic, objects of the highest order designed in the style of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

. reported 1782 in the ''Illustrations of Bohemian and Moravian scholars and artists together with short news about their life and work'' of instruments at the imperial court in Prague: "Of Habermel, a Bohemian mechanicus, are here still present 1) – Tycho Brahe's

sextant A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celes ...

. 2) – some

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

s. 3) Some

astrolabe An astrolabe ( grc, ἀστρολάβος ; ar, ٱلأَسْطُرلاب ; persian, ستاره‌یاب ) is an ancient astronomical instrument that was a handheld model of the universe. Its various functions also make it an elaborate inclin ...

s, where the former

magnetic declination Magnetic declination, or magnetic variation, is the angle on the horizontal plane between magnetic north (the direction the north end of a magnetized compass needle points, corresponding to the direction of the Earth's magnetic field lines) and ...

for which in 1558 four pieces decreases quite exactly 10° to the east - .. (141 and 142).Ralf Kern: ''Wissenschaftliche Instrumente in ihrer Zeit''. Volume 1. ''Vom Astrolab zum mathematischen Besteck''. .

Honours

Habermehl Rock Habermehl Rock ( bg, скала Хабермел, skala Habermehl, ) is the rock off the north coast of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica 37 m long in southeast–northwest direction and 18 m wide, with a surface area of ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

is named after Erasmus Habermehl.

External links

*
''Erasmus Habermel''.
Epact
''Habermehl, Erasmus''.
UhrenLexikon
''Das Astrolabium von Erasmus Habermel''.

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

, Munich; accessdate 5 November 2018
''Sonnenuhren von Erasmus Habermel und Markus Purmann''.

, München; accessdate 5 November 2018
''Theodolite''.

Museo Galileo Museo Galileo, the former ''Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza'' (Institute and Museum of the History of Science) is located in Florence, Italy, in Piazza dei Giudici, along the River Arno and close to the Uffizi Gallery. The museum, dedicate ...

(englisch)
''Erasmus Habermehl''.
The Princely Collections

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Habermehl, Erasmus German clockmakers German scientific instrument makers 1530s births 1606 deaths