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Charles Whitwell
Charles Whitwell (c. 1568 1611) was an English copper engraver and maker of mathematical and scientific instruments in the tradition of Humphrey Cole (c. 1530 1591). Whitwell was a citizen of London, free of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. One of his apprentices (indentured 1602) was Elias Allen (c. 1588-1653), who made instruments for royal patrons and for the mathematicians Edmund Gunter and William Oughtred. In 1598 Whitwell's premisses were "withoute Temple Barre against St Clement's church", where he could supply the instrument called a Sector, as described by the mathematician Thomas Hood in his publication of that year. Active between 1591 and 1606, Whitwell engraved maps of English counties, notably Philip Symonson's ''New Description of Kent'' (of 1596), and another of Surrey. He also engraved significant maps of France and of Asia. Whitwell built many of the instruments invented by the explorer Robert Dudley (1573 1649). These instruments, brought to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humphrey Cole
Humfray Cole (died 1591) was an English maker of scientific instruments and engraver. Life Cole was, according to his own description, a native of the north of England. From his employment at the mint and the general character of his work he appears to have been a mechanician. Edward Dyer acted as his patron, and he was commended as artisan by Gabriel Harvey. For the second edition of the ''Bishops' Bible'', published in 1572, he engraved a map of Palestine, as Canaan, thought to be based on a 1557 map by Tilemann Stella or Stoltz. On it he describes himself as "Humfray Cole, goldsmith, an Englishman born in ye north and pertayning to ye Mint in the Tower, 1572." Poorly paid at the mint, Cole took outside commissions; he undertook to supply any of the instruments shown in the 1571 ''Pantometria'' of Leonard Digges and Thomas Digges. He supplied instruments to Martin Frobisher. He was employed in engraving mathematical and astronomical instruments in brass, of which there are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Worshipful Company Of Grocers
The Worshipful Company of Grocers is one of the 111 livery companies of the City of London, ranking second in order of precedence. Established in 1345 for merchants engaged in the grocery trade, it is one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. History Founded in the 14th century by members of the ''Guild of Pepperers'', dating from 1180, the company was responsible for maintaining standards for the purity of spices and for setting of certain weights and measures. Its membership until 1617 included suppliers of medicinal spices and herbs when the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries was formed. The guild was known as the ''Company of Grossers'' from 1373 until 1376 when it was renamed the ''Company of Grocers of London''. In 1428, two years after building its first hall in Old Jewry, the company was granted a royal charter by King Henry VI of England. A Great Twelve City Livery Company, the Grocers rank second in the order of precedence after the Mercers. It is said ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elias Allen
Elias Allen (c.1588 in Tonbridge – March 1653 in London) was an English maker of sundials and scientific instruments. Allen was apprenticed in 1602 to Charles Whitwell, the London copper engraver, instrument maker and clockmaker, citizen of the Worshipful Company of Grocers, whose premisses were just outside Temple Bar, London, near St Clement Danes Church. After his master died, Allen established himself in a workshop beside the church there. He made instruments for James I and Charles I, among others, and was associated with the mathematicians Edmund Gunter and William Oughtred. His apprentices included Ralph Greatorex. He served from 19 January 1637 until 29 July 1638 as Master of the London Clockmakers' Company. He died in March 1653 and was buried in St Clement Danes. In 1638 William Oughtred wrote a letter to Allen asking him to make the earliest known Oughtred slide rule, and indicating that Oughtred himself had never made one. Oughtred writes, "I have here sent you di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmund Gunter
Edmund Gunter (158110 December 1626), was an English clergyman, mathematician, geometer and astronomer of Welsh descent. He is best remembered for his mathematical contributions, which include the invention of the Gunter's chain, the #Gunter's quadrant, Gunter's quadrant, and the #Gunter's scale, Gunter's scale. In 1620, he invented the first successful analogue device which he developed to calculate logarithmic tangents. He was mentorship, mentored in mathematics by Reverend Henry Briggs (mathematician), Henry Briggs and eventually became a Gresham Professor of Astronomy, from 1619 until his death. Biography Gunter was born in Hertfordshire in 1581. He was educated at Westminster School, and in 1599 he matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford. He took orders, became a preacher in 1614, and in 1615 proceeded to the degree of bachelor in Divinity (academic discipline), divinity. He became rector of St George the Martyr Southwark, St. George's Church in Southwark. Mathematics, parti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Oughtred
William Oughtred (5 March 1574 – 30 June 1660), also Owtred, Uhtred, etc., was an English mathematician and Anglican clergyman.'Oughtred (William)', in P. Bayle, translated and revised by J.P. Bernard, T. Birch and J. Lockman, ''A General Dictionary, Historical and Critical'', (James Bettenham, for G. Strachan and J. Clarke, London 1734/1739), Vol. VIIIpp. 77-86(Google). After John Napier discovered logarithms and Edmund Gunter created the logarithmic scales (lines, or rules) upon which slide rules are based, Oughtred was the first to use two such scales sliding by one another to perform direct multiplication and division. He is credited with inventing the slide rule in about 1622. He also introduced the "×" symbol for multiplication and the abbreviations "sin" and "cos" for the sine and cosine functions. Clerical life Education The son of Benjamin Oughtred of Eton in Buckinghamshire (now part of Berkshire), William was born there on 5 March 1574/75 and was educated a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sector (instrument)
The sector, also known as a sector rule, proportional compass, or military compass, is a major calculating instrument that was in use from the end of the sixteenth century until the nineteenth century. It is an instrument consisting of two rulers of equal length joined by a hinge. A number of scales are inscribed upon the instrument which facilitate various mathematical calculations. It is used for solving problems in proportion, multiplication and division, geometry, and trigonometry, and for computing various mathematical functions, such as square roots and cube roots. Its several scales permitted easy and direct solutions of problems in gunnery, surveying and navigation. The sector derives its name from the fourth proposition of the sixth book of Euclid, where it is demonstrated that similar triangles have their like sides proportional. Some sectors also incorporated a quadrant, and sometimes a clamp at the end of one leg which allowed the device to be used as a gunner' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Hood (mathematician)
Thomas Hood (1556 – 1620) was an English mathematician and physician, the first lecturer in mathematics appointed in England, a few years before the founding of Gresham College. He publicized the Copernican theory, and discussed the nova SN 1572. (Tycho's Nova). He also innovated in the design of mathematical and astronomical instruments. Life He entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1573, and graduated B.A. in 1578; he was elected to a fellowship in the same year, and graduated M.A. in 1581. His Cambridge licence to practice as a physician was from 1585. He was approached to lecture in mathematics in 1582, by the merchant Thomas Smythe. The lectures in fact began in 1588.W. W. Rouse Ball, ''A History of the Study of Mathematics at Cambridge'' (1889), pp. 23–4. He lectured from 1588 to 1592. The applications in view were military (intended for Captains of train bands, in other words for militia commanders at the time of the Spanish Armada), and subsequently aimed at naval n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Counties
The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purposes of lieutenancy; the 84 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties for local government; and the 39 historic counties. In most cases a ceremonial county shares its name with a local government county, but often covering a wider area. The historic counties of England were mostly formed as shires or divisions of the earlier kingdoms, which gradually united by the 10th century to become England. The counties were initially used primarily for the administration of justice, overseen by a sheriff. They subsequently gained other roles, notably serving as constituencies and as areas for organising the militia, which was the responsibility of the lord-lieutenant. The county magistrates also gradually took on some administrative functions. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the west. The largest settlement is Woking. The county has an area of and a population of 1,214,540. Much of the north of the county forms part of the Greater London Built-up Area, which includes the Suburb, suburbs within the M25 motorway as well as Woking (103,900), Guildford (77,057), and Leatherhead (32,522). The west of the county contains part of Farnborough/Aldershot built-up area, built-up area which includes Camberley, Farnham, and Frimley and which extends into Hampshire and Berkshire. The south of the county is rural, and its largest settlements are Horley (22,693) and Godalming (22,689). For Local government in England, local government purposes Surrey is a non-metropolitan county with eleven districts. The county historically includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Dudley (explorer)
Sir Robert Dudley (7 August 1574 – 6 September 1649) was an English explorer and cartographer. In 1594, he led an expedition to the West Indies, of which he wrote an account. The illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, he inherited the bulk of the Earl's estate in accordance with his father's will, including Kenilworth Castle. In 1603–1605, he tried unsuccessfully to establish his legitimacy in court. After that he left England forever, finding a new existence in the service of the grand dukes of Tuscany. There, he worked as an engineer and shipbuilder, and designed and published '' Dell'Arcano del Mare'' (1645–1646), the first maritime atlas to cover the whole world. He was also a skilled navigator and mathematician. In Italy, he styled himself as the "Earl of Warwick and Leicester", as well as the "Duke of Northumberland", a title recognized by Emperor Ferdinand II. Dudley was considered bigamous, because he had married Alice Leigh while still a memb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence was a centre of Middle Ages, medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered by many academics to have been the birthplace of the Renaissance, becoming a major artistic, cultural, commercial, political, economic and financial center. During this time, Florence rose to a position of enormous influence in Italy, Europe, and beyond. Its turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful House of Medici, Medici family and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 the city served as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The Florentine dialect forms the base of Italian language, standard Italian and it became the language of culture throughout Italy due to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferdinand II De' Medici
Ferdinando II de' Medici (14 July 1610 – 23 May 1670) was grand duke of Tuscany from 1621 to 1670. He was the eldest son of Cosimo II de' Medici and Maria Maddalena of Austria. Remembered by his contemporaries as a man of culture and science, he actively participated in the Accademia del Cimento, the first official scientific society in Italy, formed by his younger brother, Leopoldo de' Medici. His 49-year rule was punctuated by the beginning of Tuscany's long economic decline, which was further exacerbated by his successor, Cosimo III de' Medici. He married Vittoria della Rovere, a first cousin, with whom he had two children who reached adulthood: the aforementioned Cosimo III, and Francesco Maria de' Medici, Duke of Rovere and Montefeltro, a cardinal. Reign Ferdinando was only 10 years of age when his father Cosimo II died. Because he had not yet reached maturity, his mother Maria Maddalena and paternal grandmother, Christina of Lorraine, acted as joint regents. His two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
