Signature: 51444
ISBN: 978-80-7037-357-6

Published: [Praha] : : Národní technické muzeum , 2021

Rights: ©2021
Annotation: The catalogue is divided into nine chapters according to the structure of the exhibition: 1. Time measurement, 2. Astrometry, 3. Telescope and observation technology, 4. Navigation, 5. Angle measurement, 6. Height measurement, 7. Distance measurement, 8. Photogrammetry and scanning, 9. Drawing and calculating tools. The catalogue also presents colourful stories from history, such as the collaboration between Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, or how the director of the observatory at Clementinum Ladislaus Weinek was involved in the discovery of the movement of the Earth's rotational pole, or how the Father Martin Alois David measured the geographical coordinates of the borders and mountains of Bohemia by exploding gunpowder kegs at the summit of Sněžka, or how he performed triangulation using a sextant from observation posts in the treetops, or how difficult it was to unify the geodetic foundations of Czechoslovakia. Amusing stories also took place abroad. ‘These damned astronomers robbed me of more territory than my generals won for me,’ King Louis XIV of France allegedly said when astronomers presented him with a map of France that had ‘shrunk’ by about a tenth based on correctly, astronomically mea­sured, geographical coordinates. A century later, during the French Revolution, Pierre Méchain and his colleagues were imprisoned for a time while measuring the length of the meridian as the basis for the definition of the metre. The reason was that the revolutionaries thought his geodetic devices were a special kind of weapon. Measurement has always been part of our lives. The catalogue of the exhibition ‘How the World Is Measured’ at the National Technical Museum in Prague demonstrates how the originally purely scientific technology spread into normal life, and that, for example, the radio­‐controlled clock, satellite car navigation and map applications and images from the largest terrestrial and space telescopes on the Internet are the result of the long historical development of the scientific disciplines of astronomy and geodesy.
Annotation: The catalogue is divided into nine chapters according to the structure of the exhibition: 1. Time measurement, 2. Astrometry, 3. Telescope and observation technology, 4. Navigation, 5. Angle measurement, 6. Height measurement, 7. Distance measurement, 8. Photogrammetry and scanning, 9. Drawing and calculating tools. The catalogue also presents colourful stories from history, such as the collaboration between Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, or how the director of the observatory at Clementinum Ladislaus Weinek was involved in the discovery of the movement of the Earth's rotational pole, or how the Father Martin Alois David measured the geographical coordinates of the borders and mountains of Bohemia by exploding gunpowder kegs at the summit of Sněžka, or how he performed triangulation using a sextant from observation posts in the treetops, or how difficult it was to unify the geodetic foundations of Czechoslovakia. Amusing stories also took place abroad. ‘These damned astronomers robbed me of more territory than my generals won for me,’ King Louis XIV of France allegedly said when astronomers presented him with a map of France that had ‘shrunk’ by about a tenth based on correctly, astronomically mea­sured, geographical coordinates. A century later, during the French Revolution, Pierre Méchain and his colleagues were imprisoned for a time while measuring the length of the meridian as the basis for the definition of the metre. The reason was that the revolutionaries thought his geodetic devices were a special kind of weapon. Measurement has always been part of our lives. The catalogue of the exhibition ‘How the World Is Measured’ at the National Technical Museum in Prague demonstrates how the originally purely scientific technology spread into normal life, and that, for example, the radio­‐controlled clock, satellite car navigation and map applications and images from the largest terrestrial and space telescopes on the Internet are the result of the long historical development of the scientific disciplines of astronomy and geodesy.


Extent: 347 stran :
Publication type: monografie
Bibliography note: Obsahuje bibliografické údaje a rejstřík

The record appears in these collections:
Focus on VÚGTK > VÚGTK Departments > Metrology and Engineering Geodesy
Focus on VÚGTK > Researchers > Pavel Hánek
Content Characterization > Astronomy
Library VÚGTK > Books
Strock revision > CASLIN