Moving the Obelisks

Moving the Obelisks PDF Author: Bern Dibner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Moving of buildings, bridges, etc
Languages : en
Pages : 61

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Book Description

Moving the Obelisks

Moving the Obelisks PDF Author: Bern Dibner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Moving of buildings, bridges, etc
Languages : en
Pages : 61

Get Book Here

Book Description


Moving the Obelisks:

Moving the Obelisks: PDF Author: Bern Dibner
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1787204812
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
Dating from the beginning of historical memory, the obelisks of ancient Egypt—those tall, tapering shafts typically weighing from 200 to 500 tons—were carved from a single block of solid stone to commemorate the ruler of the moment. Many of these ancient monoliths, taken from Egypt as trophies of conquest and symbols of power through the efforts of extraordinary human labor and engineering ingenuity, were re-established in the capitals and seats of empire that also inherited Egypt’s burden of civilization. While near the climax of their historical potency, obelisks were erected by Alexandria, Nineveh, Constantinople, Rome, Paris, London, New York, etc. Fascinating as obelisks are as tracers of world history, the methods by which they have been moved and raised from ca. B.C. 1500 to A.D. 1880 (when the New York obelisk was raised) are more interesting still, and this epic history and associated engineering feats are encapsulated in this volume. The book records information, as far as we have it, on the building of the pyramids and the moving of the obelisks, together with various conjectures. What is certain is that the obelisks were moved great distances by man power alone. We do have a full record of the moving of the Vatican obelisk in 1586 from several contemporary accounts, most especially that of the project’s deviser and chief engineer, Domenico Fontana, and this move is the central concern of the book: it details how Fontana, with the enthusiastic backing of Pope Sixtus V, solved the problem by utilizing 48 capstans spread over what is now St. Peter’s Square, turned by the combined muscle power of men and horses. Full accounts are also given of the Paris, London, and New York obelisks. Of particular interest here are the various methods—including a pontoon built around a prone obelisk—by which the monoliths were transported on the high seas. Contemporary engravings are reproduced throughout.

Moving the Obelisks A chapter in engineering in whic the Vatican obelisk in Rome in 1586 was moved by muscle power, and a study of more recent similar moves

Moving the Obelisks A chapter in engineering in whic the Vatican obelisk in Rome in 1586 was moved by muscle power, and a study of more recent similar moves PDF Author: Bern Dibner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : it
Pages : 61

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Book Description


Moving the Obelisks, a Chapter in Engineering History in which the Vatican Obelisk in Rome in 1586 was Moved by Muscle Power, and a Study of More Recent Similar Moves, by Bern Dibner

Moving the Obelisks, a Chapter in Engineering History in which the Vatican Obelisk in Rome in 1586 was Moved by Muscle Power, and a Study of More Recent Similar Moves, by Bern Dibner PDF Author: Bern Dibner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 63

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Book Description


Moving the Obelisks

Moving the Obelisks PDF Author: Bern Dibner
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781258804787
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
A Chapter In Engineering History In Which The Vatican Obelisk In Rome In 1586 Was Moved By Muscle Power, And A Study Of More Recent Similar Moves.

Sojourners in a Strange Land

Sojourners in a Strange Land PDF Author: Florence C. Hsia
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226355616
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
Though Jesuits assumed a variety of roles as missionaries in late imperial China, their most memorable guise was that of scientific expert, whose maps, clocks, astrolabes, and armillaries reportedly astonished the Chinese. But the icon of the missionary-scientist is itself a complex myth. Masterfully correcting the standard story of China Jesuits as simple conduits for Western science, Florence C. Hsia shows how these missionary-scientists remade themselves as they negotiated the place of the profane sciences in a religious enterprise. Sojourners in a Strange Land develops a genealogy of Jesuit conceptions of scientific life within the Chinese mission field from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. Analyzing the printed record of their endeavors in natural philosophy and mathematics, Hsia identifies three models of the missionary man of science by their genres of writing: mission history, travelogue, and academic collection. Drawing on the history of early modern Europe’s scientific, religious, and print culture, she uses the elaboration and reception of these scientific personae to construct the first collective biography of the Jesuit missionary-scientist’s many incarnations in late imperial China.

Wonderful Things: A History of Egyptology, Volume 1

Wonderful Things: A History of Egyptology, Volume 1 PDF Author: Jason Thompson
Publisher: American University in Cairo Press
ISBN: 1617976369
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
The discovery of ancient Egypt and the development of Egyptology are momentous events in intellectual and cultural history. The history of Egyptology is the story of the people, famous and obscure, who constructed the picture of ancient Egypt that we have today, recovered the Egyptian past while inventing it anew, and made a lost civilization comprehensible to generations of enchanted readers and viewers thousands of years later. This, the first of a three-volume survey of the history of Egyptology, follows the fascination with ancient Egypt from antiquity until 1881, tracing the recovery of ancient Egypt and its impact on the human imagination in a saga filled with intriguing mysteries, great discoveries, and scholarly creativity. Wonderful Things affirms that the history of ancient Egypt has proved continually fascinating, but it also demonstrates that the history of Egyptology is no less so. Only by understanding how Egyptology has developed can we truly understand the Egyptian past.

Mathematics in Ancient Egypt

Mathematics in Ancient Egypt PDF Author: Annette Imhausen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691209073
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
A survey of ancient Egyptian mathematics across three thousand years Mathematics in Ancient Egypt traces the development of Egyptian mathematics, from the end of the fourth millennium BC—and the earliest hints of writing and number notation—to the end of the pharaonic period in Greco-Roman times. Drawing from mathematical texts, architectural drawings, administrative documents, and other sources, Annette Imhausen surveys three thousand years of Egyptian history to present an integrated picture of theoretical mathematics in relation to the daily practices of Egyptian life and social structures. Imhausen shows that from the earliest beginnings, pharaonic civilization used numerical techniques to efficiently control and use their material resources and labor. Even during the Old Kingdom, a variety of metrological systems had already been devised. By the Middle Kingdom, procedures had been established to teach mathematical techniques to scribes in order to make them proficient administrators for their king. Imhausen looks at counterparts to the notation of zero, suggests an explanation for the evolution of unit fractions, and analyzes concepts of arithmetic techniques. She draws connections and comparisons to Mesopotamian mathematics, examines which individuals in Egyptian society held mathematical knowledge, and considers which scribes were trained in mathematical ideas and why. Of interest to historians of mathematics, mathematicians, Egyptologists, and all those curious about Egyptian culture, Mathematics in Ancient Egypt sheds new light on a civilization's unique mathematical evolution.

Design Paradigms

Design Paradigms PDF Author: Henry Petroski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107393418
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
From ancient Greek temples to twentieth-century towers, engineers have learned more about design from failure than success. The concept of error, according to the author, is central to the design process. As a way of explaining the enduring aspects of engineering design, he relates stories of some of the greatest engineering successes and failures of all time. These case studies, drawn from a wide range of times and places, serve as paradigms of error and judgment in engineering design. By showing how errors were introduced in the design process and how they might be avoided, the book suggests how better quality and reliability might be achieved in designed devices, structures, and systems of all kinds. Clearly written, with striking illustrations, the book will appeal to engineering students, practising engineers, historians of science and technology, and all those interested in learning about the process of design.

Invention by Design

Invention by Design PDF Author: Henry Petroski
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674266455
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Henry Petroski’s previous bestsellers have delighted readers with intriguing stories about the engineering marvels around us, from the lowly pencil to the soaring suspension bridge. In this book, Petroski delves deeper into the mystery of invention, to explore what everyday artifacts and sophisticated networks can reveal about the way engineers solve problems. Engineering entails more than knowing the way things work. What do economics and ecology, aesthetics and ethics, have to do with the shape of a paper clip, the tab of a beverage can, the cabin design of a turbojet, or the course of a river? How do the idiosyncrasies of individual engineers, companies, and communities leave their mark on projects from Velcro® to fax machines to waterworks? Invention by Design offers an insider’s look at these political and cultural dimensions of design and development, production and construction. Readers unfamiliar with engineering will find Petroski’s enthusiasm contagious, whether the topic is the genesis of the Ziploc® baggie or the averted collapse of Manhattan’s sleekest skyscraper. And those who inhabit the world of engineering will discover insights to challenge their customary perspective, whether their work involves failure analysis, systems design, or public relations. Written with the flair that readers have come to expect from his books, Invention by Design reaffirms Petroski as the master explicator of the principles and processes that turn thoughts into the many things that define our made world.