Article ID: CBB624680133

[Discovery of an Octagonal Tube Telescope Designed by Zenbei Iwahashi] 岩橋善兵衛の八稜筒形望遠鏡の発見 (2018)

unapi

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the octagonal tube telescope designed by Zenbei Iwahashi (1756–1811) that was discovered by the author, and to evaluate it from a historical perspective. Z. Iwahashi was one of the most famous Japanese telescope makers in the Edo period. In 1793, he completed the first octagonal tube telescope, and organized a stargazing party at Nankei Tachibana’s house. Z. Iwahashi made many high-performance telescopes after this event, and provided some of them to Tadataka Inou, the well-known land surveyor and cartographer. The octagonal tube telescope investigated in this study was printed with Iwahashi’s original pattern “Iwahashi kuruma gata moyo ( 岩橋車形模様 )”; this was thought of as evidence that the telescope had been designed by his family. Moreover, Iwahashi’s name was engraved on the eyepiece and branded on the diaphragm of the telescope. Given this evidence, the author concluded that this telescope was produced by Iwahashi’s family, and compared its features with their “Ikkanbari ( 一閑張 )” telescopes. It was found that the features of this telescope were similar to those of the telescopes collected by Imizu City Shinminato Museum and by Kaizuka City Zenbei Land. The author also concludes that this octagonal tube telescope was designed by Z. Iwahashi between the Kansei ( 寛 政 ) 12 (1800) to Bunka ( 文 化 ) 5 (1808) eras, and that the manufacturing technique of this telescope occupies quite an important position in the development of telescope making by Z. Iwahashi.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB624680133/

Similar Citations

Article Giorgio Strano; (2009)
La lista della spesa di Galileo: un documento poco noto sul telescopio (/isis/citation/CBB392332049/)

Article Takehiko Hashimoto; (April 2021)
Making and Using Scientific Instruments in Japan: How Scholars and Craftsmen Cooperated, 1781–1853 (/isis/citation/CBB737130212/)

Thesis Cameron, Gary Leonard; (2010)
Public Skies: Telescopes and the Popularization of Astronomy in the Twentieth Century (/isis/citation/CBB001560827/)

Book P.J.K. Louwman; Huib J. Zuidervaart; (2013)
A Certain Instrument for Seeing Far: Four Centuries of Styling the Telescope (/isis/citation/CBB844409251/)

Chapter Wayne Orchiston; (2016)
The ‘Cook’ Gregorian Telescope in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (/isis/citation/CBB381645318/)

Book Massimo Bucciantini; Franco Giudice; Michele Camerota; (2015)
Galileo's Telescope: A European Story (/isis/citation/CBB071731602/)

Book Gillespie, Richard; (2011)
The Great Melbourne Telescope (/isis/citation/CBB001250823/)

Article Richard Taibi; (2019)
A tale of three telescopes: the John A. Brashear Company and its 46-cm objective (/isis/citation/CBB988844649/)

Book Galilei, Galileo; Shea, William R.; Bascelli, Tiziana; (2009)
Galileo's Sidereus nuncius or A Sidereal Message (/isis/citation/CBB001021203/)

Chapter Wayne Orchiston; (2016)
Joseph Ward: Pioneer New Zealand Telescope-Maker (/isis/citation/CBB119826569/)

Article Johan Karnfelt; (2017)
Reception and dissemination of American amateur telescope making in Sweden (/isis/citation/CBB838247030/)

Book Paolo Palmieri; (2016)
Hermes and the Telescope: In the Crucible of Galileo's Life-World (/isis/citation/CBB515798894/)

Article James Lattis; (2017)
Wanderings of the 'Simply Perfect' Burnham Telescope (/isis/citation/CBB386274999/)

Article Paolo Del Santo; (2021)
On the alleged use of Keplerian telescopes in Naples in the 1610s (/isis/citation/CBB871335782/)

Article Wielebinski, Richard; Junkes, Norbert; Grahl, Berndt H.; (2011)
The Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope: Construction and Forty Years of Radio Astronomy (/isis/citation/CBB001221505/)

Article Sewell, Jessica Ellen; Johnston, Andrew; (2010)
Material Culture and the Dobsonian Telescope (/isis/citation/CBB001023800/)

Article Filippoupoliti, Anastasia; (2012)
“A Small but Choice Collection of Instruments” (/isis/citation/CBB001421580/)

Authors & Contributors
Orchiston, Wayne
Bolton, Catherine
Taibi, Richard
Ago, Renata
Filippoupoliti, Anastasia
Zuidervaart, Huibert Jan
Journals
Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage
Galilæana: Journal of Galilean Studies
Technology and Culture
Spontaneous Generations
Museum History Journal
科学史研究 Kagakusi Kenkyu (History of Science)
Publishers
Louwman Collection of Historic Telescopes
Iowa State University
Science History Publications
Peter Lang
Museum of Victoria
Harvard University Press
Concepts
Telescopes
Instruments, astronomical
Astronomy
Scientific apparatus and instruments
Science and religion
Astronomical observatories
People
Galilei, Galileo
Joseph Thomas Ward (25 January 1862 – 4 January 1927)
Solander, Daniel Charles
Cook, James
Colonna, Fabio
Brashear, John A.
Time Periods
17th century
20th century
19th century
Edo period (Japan, 1603-1868)
20th century, late
18th century
Places
Italy
New Zealand
Japan
United States
Melbourne (Victoria, Australia)
Naples (Italy)
Institutions
Washburn Observatory
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
Royal Astronomical Society
Lick Observatory
Universität Bonn
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment