Tangible Heritage: Production of Astrolabes on a Laser Engraver

Georg Zotti
Tangible Heritage: Production of Astrolabes on a Laser Engraver
In EG2007 Cultural Heritage Papers, pages 41-48 (colorplate:p60). September 2007.
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Abstract

The astrolabe, an analog computing device, used to be the iconic instrument of astronomers during the Middle Ages. It allowed a multitude of operations of practical astronomy which were otherwise cumbersome to perform in an epoch when mathematics had apparently almost been forgotten. Usually made from wood or sheet metal, a few hundred instruments, mostly from brass, survived until today and are valuable museum showpieces. This paper explains a procedural modelling approach for the construction of the classical kinds of astrolabes, which allows a wide variety of applications from plain explanatory illustrations to 3D models, and even the production of working physical astrolabes usable for public or classroom demonstrations.

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@inproceedings{zotti-2007-eg,
  title =      "Tangible Heritage: Production of Astrolabes on a Laser
               Engraver",
  author =     "Georg Zotti",
  year =       "2007",
  abstract =   "The astrolabe, an analog computing device, used to be the
               iconic   instrument of astronomers during the Middle Ages.
               It allowed a   multitude of operations of practical
               astronomy which were otherwise   cumbersome to perform in an
               epoch when mathematics had apparently   almost been
               forgotten. Usually made from wood or sheet metal, a   few
               hundred instruments, mostly from brass, survived until today
               and   are valuable    museum showpieces. This paper explains
               a procedural modelling   approach for the construction of
               the classical kinds of astrolabes,   which allows a wide
               variety of applications from plain explanatory  
               illustrations to 3D models, and even the production of
               working   physical astrolabes usable for public or classroom
               demonstrations.",
  pages =      "41--48 (colorplate:p60)",
  month =      sep,
  organization = "Eurographics",
  booktitle =  "EG2007 Cultural Heritage Papers",
  editor =     "David B. Arnold and Andrej Ferko",
  issn =       "1017-4656",
  publisher =  "Eurographics",
  location =   "Prague",
  keywords =   "Cultural Heritage, Astronomy, Astrolabe, Procedural
               Modelling",
  URL =        "http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2007/zotti-2007-eg/",
}