The Publishing House Sillabe has recently published the “Catalogue of Surveying and Related Instruments” by Jim Bennett, an important volume on surveying equipment.
The survey and related instruments belonging to the Museo Galileo are an important resource for understanding the nature of applied mathematics in Renaissance and early modern Europe. While nowadays the term "mathematician" generally refers to tools related to drawing and calculation, at the time it also included those for all practical disciplines in which mathematical techniques were used, such as astronomy, navigation, cartography, ballistics, the composition of numbers, architecture and, of course, surveying.
Much of the exceptional collection of the Museo Galileo was assembled during the Medici era in the 16th and 17th centuries.
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