Misplaced Pages

#212787

23-531: The NAWCC was founded in 1943 by members of the Horological Society of New York and the Philadelphia Watchmakers' Guild who wished to create a national organization focused on providing education and advocacy for horology. Many of the members participate in one or more of the 145 "Chapters" that are based on a locality or a special interest (e.g., the local chapter for New York is Chapter 2 and

46-590: A guild for working watchmakers, it offered life insurance and training to members. The Society switched to using English around the time of World War I to accommodate a more diverse membership, and was renamed the Horological Society of New York in 1930. After a high point in membership following World War II , the Society declined during the quartz crisis in the 1970s and 1980s. In recent years, as mechanical watches have once again increased in popularity,

69-462: A classroom at the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen Building on West 44th Street. Instructors who are working watchmakers teach classes to the public on evenings and weekends. Every year, HSNY offers financial aid to watchmaking students and institutions in the U.S. By funding living and other expenses for watchmaking students, HSNY aims to address the current shortage of watchmakers in

92-510: A former chairman of the National Clock and Watch Library . The HSNY library includes periodicals, ephemera and rare books dating back to 1652. It is named after Jost Bürgi , a Swiss clockmaker, astronomer and mathematician. It is open to the public and also hosts rotating exhibits. Jost B%C3%BCrgi Jost Bürgi (also Joost, Jobst ; Latinized surname Burgius or Byrgius ; 28 February 1552 – 31 January 1632 ), active primarily at

115-524: A table, and this was an anticipation of the famous Tables du cadastre . Bürgi constructed a table of progressions what is now understood as antilogarithms independently of John Napier , through a method distinct from Napier's. Napier published his discovery in 1614, and this publication was widely disseminated in Europe by the time Bürgi published at the behest of Johannes Kepler. Bürgi may have constructed his table of progressions around 1600, but Bürgi's work

138-518: A working tool for himself for his astronomical calculations, but as a "craftsman/scholar" rather than a "book scholar" he failed to publish his invention for a long time. In 1592, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor in Prague received from his uncle, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, a Bürgi globe and insisted that Bürgi deliver it personally. From then on Bürgi commuted between Kassel and Prague, and finally entered

161-519: Is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the art and science of horology . The Horological Society of New York was founded on March 26, 1866, and is one of the oldest horological societies in the world. A group of German immigrants including George Schmidt and Frederick Ruoff founded the group as the Deutscher Uhrmacher Verein , or German Watchmakers Society, with all meetings and business conducted in that language. As

184-516: Is known on this table, and some authors have speculated that its range was only over 45 degrees. Such tables were extremely important for navigation at sea. Johannes Kepler called the Canon Sinuum the most precise known table of sines. Bürgi explained his algorithms in his work Fundamentum Astronomiae which he presented to Emperor Rudolf II in 1592. Iterative table calculation through Bürgi's algorithm essentially works as follows: cells sum up

207-474: Is not a theoretical basis for logarithms, although his table serves the same purpose as Napier's. One source claims that Bürgi did not develop a clear notion of a logarithmic function and can therefore not be viewed as an inventor of logarithms. Bürgi's method is different from that of Napier and was clearly invented independently. Kepler wrote about Bürgi's logarithms in the introduction to his Rudolphine Tables (1627): "... as aids to calculation Justus Byrgius

230-596: The Harvard Club of New York City and the New York Yacht Club . It is located in the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen Building, a New York City Landmark. In the 1930s, the Society began publishing a newsletter, The Horologist's Loupe, which is still being distributed digitally. HSNY holds monthly lectures on various topics related to watchmaking and horology. The Society offers watchmaking classes in

253-716: The Tower Clock Chapter is Chapter 134 ). The vast majority of chapters are based in the United States, though a number are also in Canada, the UK, China, Australia, and Japan. Special interest chapters range from "British Horology" to "Horological Science." The NAWCC's annual Ward Francillon Time Symposium is held in October, where eminent speakers present their research on a focused topic. The NAWCC provides members with bimonthly publications:

SECTION 10

#1732863195213

276-573: The Watch & Clock Bulletin and Mart & Highlights . The Bulletin contains articles from watch and clock professionals as well as amateur enthusiasts. The Mart offers space to advertise timepieces or goods and services useful to NAWCC members, and also provides a venue for NAWCC Chapters from around the world to share their members’ latest activities. The NAWCC and its Chapters hold local, regional and national meetings and events focused on timepieces and timekeeping topics. Many of these events are open to

299-433: The astronomer Johannes Kepler at the court of Rudolf II. It is undocumented where he learned his clockmaking skills, but eventually he became the most innovative clock and scientific instrument maker of his time. Among his major horological inventions were the cross-beat escapement , and the remontoire , two mechanisms which improved the accuracy of mechanical clocks of the time by orders of magnitude. This allowed for

322-528: The Society has expanded and now includes members from all over the world. It became a 501(c)(3) organization and serves watch collectors, hobbyists, and researchers interested in horology, as well as watchmakers and watchmaking students. It is an affiliate chapter of the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute (AWCI). The Society moved to its premises on “Club Row” in midtown Manhattan in 2018, where other private clubs include

345-495: The country. HSNY hosts an annual gala and a separate charity auction to raise money for its scholarship program. In October 2022, HSNY opened the Jost Bürgi Research Library, containing over 25,000 items related to time and timekeeping. While HSNY has possessed a small collection of books since its origin, the vast majority of the material in the present collection was donated by collector Fortunat Mueller-Maerki,

368-760: The courts in Kassel and Prague , was a Swiss clockmaker , mathematician , and writer. Bürgi was born in 1552 Lichtensteig , Toggenburg , at the time a subject territory of the Abbey of St. Gall (now part of the canton of St. Gallen , Switzerland). Not much is known about his life or education before his employment as astronomer and clockmaker at the court of William IV in Kassel in 1579; it has been theorized that he acquired his mathematical knowledge at Strasbourg , among others from Swiss mathematician Conrad Dasypodius , but there are no facts to support this. Although an autodidact, he

391-416: The first time clocks to be used as scientific instruments, with enough accuracy to time the passing of stars (and other heavenly bodies) in the crosshairs of telescopes to start accurately charting stellar positions. Working as an instrument maker for the court of William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel in Kassel he played a pivotal role in developing the first astronomical charts. He invented logarithms as

414-962: The public. The National Watch and Clock Museum was founded in 1977 by the NAWCC. The Museum has the largest collection of horological artifacts in North America and has one of the largest library and research centers in the world devoted to the study of time and timekeeping. The Museum, the Fortunat Mueller-Maerki Library & Research Center and NAWCC headquarters are located in Columbia, PA . The NAWCC also runs numerous education programs for both professionals and hobbyists at its School of Horology in Columbia, PA. Classes examine topics such as watch and clock repair. Horological Society of New York The Horological Society of New York ( HSNY )

437-452: The service of the emperor in 1604 to work for the imperial astronomer Johannes Kepler. The most significant artifacts designed and built by Bürgi surviving in museums are: By 1586, Bürgi was able to calculate sines at arbitrary precision, using several algorithms , one of which he called Kunstweg . He supposedly used these algorithms to calculate a « Canon Sinuum », a table of sines to 8 places in steps of 2 arc seconds . Nothing more

460-499: The translation survived in Graz , it is thus called "Grazer Handschrift". In 1604, he entered the service of emperor Rudolf II in Prague. Here, he befriended Johannes Kepler . Bürgi constructed a table of sines ( Canon Sinuum ), which was supposedly very accurate, but since the table itself is lost, it is difficult to be sure of its real accuracy (for instance, Valentinus Otho 's Opus Palatinum had parts which were not as accurate as it

483-437: The values of the two previous cells in the same column . The final cell's value is divided by two, and the next iteration starts. Finally, the values of the last column get normalized. Rather accurate approximations of sines are obtained after few iterations. Only recently, Folkerts et al. proved that this simple process converges indeed towards the true sines. Another of Buergi's algorithms uses differences in order to build up

SECTION 20

#1732863195213

506-420: Was already during his lifetime considered as one of the most excellent mechanical engineers of his generation. His employer, William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel , in a letter to Tycho Brahe praised Bürgi as a "second Archimedes" ( quasi indagine Archimedes alter est ). Another autodidact, Nicolaus Reimers , in 1587 translated Copernicus' De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium into German for Bürgi. A copy of

529-474: Was claimed). An introduction to some of Bürgi's methods survives in a copy by Kepler; it discusses the basics of Algebra (or Coss as it was known at the time), and of decimal fractions. Some authors consider Bürgi as one of the inventors of logarithms . His legacy also includes the engineering achievement contained in his innovative mechanical astronomical models. During his years in Prague he worked closely with

#212787