Detail map of Greece,Bursa, Turkey Overview map of Greece,Bursa, Turkey

A: Greece, B: Bursa, Turkey

Invention of the Astrolabe

Circa 150 to 100 BCE
Photograph of an astrolabe from the Mamluk Sultanate dated 1282.

An astrolabe from the Mamluk Sultanate dated 1282.

The rudimentary astrolabe was invented in the Hellenistic world, and is often attributed to Hipparchus, who was probably born in Nicaea (now Iznik, Turkey) and probably died on the island of Rhodes. A combination of the planisphere and dioptra, the astrolabe was effectively an analog calculator capable of working out several different kinds of problems in spherical astronomy.

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