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Re: {Spam?} Sobel and Longitude. was:: Re: David Thomson and his lunar tables
From: Wolfgang Köberer
Date: 2010 Mar 20, 11:49 +0100
From: Wolfgang Köberer
Date: 2010 Mar 20, 11:49 +0100
The
alleged "lunars" by Vespucci as well as Columbus' attempts at discovering
longitude by means of the moon have been dealt with in an article by
Hermann Wagner: "Die Legende der Längenbestimmung Vespuccis nach
Mondabständen", in: Nachrichten der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften
zu Göttingen, Math.-phys. Klasse 1917, 264 - 298. It's quite old but I think its
arguments are still valid.
Arne
Molander tried to show that Columbus was using some sort of lunar method in:
"Columbus and the Method of Lunar Distance", in: Terrae Incognitae, Vol. 24
(1992), 65 - 78. I find this not very convincing and highly
speculative.
Then
there is: Randles, W.G.L,."Portuguese and Spanish attempts to measure longitude
in the 16th century", in: Boletim da Biblioteca da Universidade de Coimbra, Vol.
39 (1984), 143 - 159, reprinted (and more accessible) in: Mariner's Mirror, Vol.
81 (1995), 402 - 408.
But -
to my knowledge - nothing pre.1500 - at least as far as lunar distances proper
are concerned. That was first proposed - as has been pointed out numerous times
here on the list - by Johann Werner in 1514.
Wolfgang
