The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Borghesi Astronomical Clock in the Museum of History and Technology, by Silvio A. Bedini

Title: The Borghesi Astronomical Clock in the Museum of History and Technology

Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Paper 35, the Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum Bulletin 240

Author: Silvio A. Bedini

Release Date: July 18, 2010 [eBook #33198]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
BULLETIN 240

SMITHSONIAN PRESS

MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

Contributions
From the
Museum
of History and
Technology

Papers 34-44
On Science and Technology

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION · WASHINGTON, D.C. 1966

Publications of the United States National Museum

The scholarly and scientific publications of the United States National Museum include two series, Proceedings of the United States National Museum and United States National Museum Bulletin.

In these series, the Museum publishes original articles and monographs dealing with the collections and work of its constituent museums—The Museum of Natural History and the Museum of History and Technology—setting forth newly acquired facts in the fields of anthropology, biology, history, geology, and technology. Copies of each publication are distributed to libraries, to cultural and scientific organizations, and to specialists and others interested in the different subjects.

The Proceedings, begun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in separate form, of shorter papers from the Museum of Natural History. These are gathered in volumes, octavo in size, with the publication date of each paper recorded in the table of contents of the volume.

In the Bulletin series, the first of which was issued in 1875, appear longer, separate publications consisting of monographs (occasionally in several parts) and volumes in which are collected works on related subjects. Bulletins are either octavo or quarto in size, depending on the needs of the presentation. Since 1902 papers relating to the botanical collections of the Museum of Natural History have been published in the Bulletin series under the heading Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, and since 1959, in Bulletins titled “Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology,” have been gathered shorter papers relating to the collections and research of that Museum.

The present collection of Contributions, Papers 34-44, comprises Bulletin 240. Each of these papers has been previously published in separate form. The year of publication is shown on the last page of each paper.

Frank A. Taylor
Director, United States National Museum

Contributions from
The Museum of History and Technology:
Paper 35


The Borghesi Astronomical Clock
In the Museum of History and Technology

Silvio A. Bedini

DEVELOPMENT OF ASTRONOMICAL CLOCKS   32

DESIGNER BORGHESI   33

CLOCKMAKER BERTOLLA   34

FIRST BORGHESI CLOCK   38

SECOND BORGHESI CLOCK   41

BORGHESIAN THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE   54

LAST YEARS   57

THE CLOCKS OF BARTOLOMEO ANTONIO BERTOLLA   59

APPENDIX   71

BIBLIOGRAPHY   76

Figure 1.—The dial plate of the Borghesi clock, showing the horary and astronomical indications which are automatically presented.

 Silvio A. Bedini

The Borghesi Astronomical Clock
In the Museum of History and Technology