How the World Is Measured. Astronomical and Surveying Instruments

National Technical Museum 2021, 215x265mm, 347 pages., ISBN 978-80-7037-362-0 Ever since the dawn of civilisation, humanity has been driven to obtain knowledge about the world that surrounds us. Determining the shape and dimension of Earth, revealing the position, distance and composition of space bodies, is what humans have been trying to do since time immemorial. Observation and measurement, based on mathematical calculations, have always been the primary tools to achieve these goals. Measurements were first made with the naked eye and gradually with the aid of increasingly sophisticated instruments. The list begins with simple aids like measuring ropes, plumb bobs, gnomons and astrolabes, continues with theodolites and telescopes, and ends with the current satellite navigation systems or the astrometric satellites which map our Galaxy.