NavList:

From: Alexandre Eremenko <eremenko@math.purdue.edu>
Subject: [NavList] London Science Museum
To: NavList@fer3.com
Date: Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 9:20 AM

I recently visited the Science Museum in London.
It has a Troughton dividing engine in a permanent exposition,
but currently they also have two exhibitions:
"Mathematics" and "Computers". In "Mathematics" exhibition they
have many interesting items, I mean analog computers, various
plotting devices and two other dividing engines, one of them WORKING!
(What else can you display under the title "Mathematics" in a museum:-)

The other dividing engines are another later one by Troughton,
and one by Cary (London), which was used until 1920 and still working:
in the museum display, you press a button, and an electric motor makes
the parts of the engine move.

Other very impressive things are differential analisers: pure mechanical
devices for solving differential equations. It is amazing to see a high
precision clockwork
devices of such size:-)

Alex.

P.S. The very first Ramsden's dividing engine described in Bill Morris
blog is in Smithsonian Institution
in Washington DC. But I was never able to see it. Apparently it is not on
display.
----------------------------------------------------------------
NavList message boards and member settings: www.fer3.com/NavList
Members may optionally receive posts by email.
To cancel email delivery, send a message to NoMail[at]fer3.com
----------------------------------------------------------------