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The Mathematics of Measurement is a historical survey of the introduction of mathematics to physics and of the branches of mathematics that were developed specifically for handling measurements, including dimensional analysis, error analysis, and the calculus of quantities.
The large masonry instruments designed by Sawai Jai Singh and erected in his five observatories in the early eighteenth century mark the culmination of a long process of development in astronomical instrumentation. But what kind of astronomical instruments were used in India before Jai Singh's time? Sanskrit texts on astronomy describe the construction and use of several types of instruments. Are any of these extant in museums? Such questions led me to an exploration of nearly a hundred museums and private collections in India, Europe and USA for about a quarter century. The present catalogue is the outcome of this exploration. This catalogue describes each instrument in the context of the related extant specimens, while laying special emphasis on the interplay between Sanskrit and Islamic traditions of instrumentation. Therefore, each instrument type is organized in a separate section identified by the letters of the alphabet. These sections begin with introductory essays on the history of the instrument type and its varieties, followed by a full technical description of every specimen, with art historical notes. Moreover, all engraved data are reproduced and interpreted as far as possible. In some 4300 pages, it contains 600 entries, with introductory essays and long extracts from two important Sanskrit texts, namely Mahendra Sūri's Yantrarāja and Padmanābha's Dhruvabhramādhikāra, along with English translations. Following a suggestion that a shorter version of the Catalogue, consisting of all the introductory essays and appendices, but excluding the catalogue proper, would be easier for the general reader to handle, this Abridged Version has been prepared. The pagination here remains the same as in the Catalogue. Those who wish to read about individual instruments can always consult the Catalogue.
The history of precision technology may seem a small, specialised subject, concerned with the development of such mundane, even banal objects as sun-dials, sand-glasses, clocks or rulers and other measuring instruments. Yet their development, as the author holds, has helped condition how we relate to the natural world and is therefore a key aspect of cultural history. For many classes of instruments there are still no basic narrative accounts of their internal evolution, and a number of these studies represent an effort towards fulfilling that need. In others, starting with an object or an object and its maker, the author asks what did it do, and then who wanted it to do it and why, penetrating into the more general social context. In time the studies range from Antiquity to the 19th century, but the emphasis is on the period from the 16th century onwards.L'histoire de la technologie de précision peut paraître comme étant un sujet spécialisé de moindre importance, se rapportant au développment d'objets quelconque, voire banals, tels les cadrans solaires, les sabliers, les horloges, les règles et autres instruments de mesure. D'après l'auteur, leur développement a cependant contribué à déterminer la façon dont nous nous rapportons au monde naturel et fait de ceux-ci l'un des aspects à la clef de notre histoire culturelle. Pour un bon nombre de catégories d'instruments, il n'existe toujours pas de relation de base concernant leur évolution interne; un effort a été accompli au travers de certaines des études contenues dans ce recueil, afin de combler cette lacune. Dans d'autres, l'auteur, débutant par un objet seul, ou bien encore un objet et son créateur, pose la question de savoir ce à quoi celui-ci servait, à qui il était destiné à servir et pourquoi, pénétrant ainsi dans un contexte social plus généralisé. Du point de vue de la chronologie, les études partent de l'Antiquité et vont jusqu'au 19e siècle, l'accent étant surtout mis à partir du 16e siècle.