Talk:Mariner's astrolabe
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[edit] Disputable claims?
I took this out of the page:
- A precursor to the mariner's astrolabe was the navigational astrolabe developed by Muslim navigators during the early Middle Ages, which employed the use of a polar projection system for navigational purposes.[1] In Europe, the elimination of the unnecessary parts of the Muslim navigational astrolabe eventually led to the development of the mariner's astrolabe.[2]
- ^ Robert Hannah (1997). "The Mapping of the Heavens by Peter Whitfield", Imago Mundi 49, p. 161-162.
- ^ Allan Ferguson, Natural Philosophy through the Eighteenth Century and Allied Topics. (cf. T. Volume (1973), Annals of Science 30 (4), p. 457-464 (8).)
The first link is a circular reference - this article points to Islamic astronomy#Navigational astrolabe, which in turn just points back to this article. No info added and no explanation of what a navigational astrolabe is.
The claim that navigational astrolabe represents a precursor is questionable. The origins of the instrument are not well documented and those who have investigated (e.g. Daumas) point to the planispheric astrolabe as a precursor as stated in the article below the addition. I have no access to the second reference, so I can't verify what it says (in spite of being in one of the largest urban agglomerations in North America, no local library has it - I'd have to go through interlibrary loans or JStor, either of which is a biggish project for me right now). I'd like to know what Ferguson actually has to say that is relevant before putting the above text back in. Ferguson doesn't show up in any bibliography in the scientific instrument texts I have on hand, so I'm inclined to believe Daumas. Michael Daly 19:56, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
