Juanelo Turriano
The first android in the Western World, a completely mechanical figure which simulated a living human or animal, operating with an apparently responsive action, is believed to have been constructed in 1525 by Hans Bullmann (?-1535) of Nuremberg, Germany. Bullmann actually reportedly produced a number of extremely ingenious figures of..Read More
Hans Schlottheim
Starting from 1580, Hans Schlottheim, a German goldsmith, watchmaker, craftsman, and above all a mechanic, working in Augsburg, created quite a few wonderful automata, several of which managed to survive to our time. Schlottheim’s automata had been known to feature vignette scenes populated by animated figurines, music-producing mechanisms, hourly chimes,..Read More
Agostino Ramelli
The Italian military engineer Agostino Ramelli (1531–ca. 1610) produced a remarkable illustrated book in 1588 describing a large number of machines that he devised, called Le diverse et artificiose machine del Capitano Agostino Ramelli (The various and ingenious machines of Captain Agostino Ramelli). The book, published in Paris at his..Read More
Napier’s Logarithms
In July 1614 in Edinburgh, Scotland, was published a small book (57 pages of explanatory matter and 90 pages of tables) which will make a key advance in the use of mathematics. The book was Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio (Description of the Marvelous Canon of Logarithms), written by a Scotsman—John..Read More
Salomon de Caus
Jean Salomon de Caus was a French Huguenot engineer and scientist, who spent all his life moving across Europe. He worked as a hydraulic engineer and architect under Louis XIII from 1623 till his death in Paris in 1626. de Caus also was in service of the Prince of Wales..Read More
William Pratt
A simple calculating device with the fancy name Arithmetical Jewell was designed by William Pratt in the middle 1610s, and described in the book of the same name (The Arithmeticall Jewell: or the use of a small Table Whereby is speedily wrought, as well all Arithmetical workes in whole Numbers,..Read More
Napier’s Bones
At the end of 1617 in Edinburgh after the death of John Napier, was published (in the Latin language, which was a common practice then) his small book—Rabdologiae seu Numerationis per Virgulas libri duo. Looking to ease his own difficulties in calculating logarithmic tables, and impatient with the tedious and..Read More
Wilhelm Schickard
One of the most important events in the life of the modest deacon of Nürtingen, Wilhelm Schickard, was his meeting in October 1617, with the great astronomer Johann Kepler. Obviously, during this meeting, Kepler immediately recognized the massive intellect of the young Wilhelm and encouraged his occasions with sciences, which..Read More