Orreries, Clocks, and London Society by Tony Buick

Author:Tony Buick
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030617776
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

The next major development was made around 1734. This was the octant, which incorporated mirrors and had a shorter 1/8 turn or 45°, whereas the longer quintants or quadrants had 72 or 90°. A mid-eighteenth-century octant is shown in Fig. 4.10. It was first developed independently by two men: a mathematician, John Hadley (1682–1744) and a glazier, Thomas Godfrey (1704–1749). It might be that Isaac Newton really invented the reflecting quadrant in 1699, although its recognition depended on Edmond Halley, to whom the design was entrusted for publication with the description. He didn’t, and so the design was only discovered after Halley’s death.

Fig. 4.10Mid eighteenth-century octant. (Photograph by the author with permission of the Science Museum)

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