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| Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528),
                    the famous
                    Renaissance painter, printmaker, engraver,
                    mathematician, and theorist, presented a drawing
                    with a detailed method for the construction of
                    sundials using compass and straightedge. He
                    published it 
                    in 1525 in the third book of his
                    treatise
                  >Underweysung der messung, mit zirckel und
                  richtscheyt< (Teaching of Measuring). | 
          
      
  
        
      
![]() ![]()  | 
            Enter latitude
                in decimal degrees, and press RETURN key. | 
          
![]() ![]()  | 
            Enter longitude in decimal degrees (eastern positive, western negative) and press RETURN key. | 
| Use Shift key and click to move the center. | 
| Setting the longitude
                to zero the hour lines will indicate the local apparent
                time (solar time). Taking into account the longitude the hour lines will indicate the standard time if the equation of time is added or subtracted. + = sundial
                    is fast on clock time 
              - = sundial is slow on clock time  | 
          

      

      
The sundial is using a polar gnomon (parallel to the Earth's axis).

        
      

      
Dürer's construction of the Archimedean
                    spiral
      
        
      
Testing the sundial at 51.62° N, 7.97° E on
              May 12 at 14:05 CET
              (equation of time 3:40 min, dial is fast) 
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                 Albrecht Dürer (MacTutor History of Mathematics archive) Albrecht Dürer:
                      Underweysung der Messung, mit dem Zirckel und
                      Richtscheyt G.
                        Wolfschmidt: A Historian Looks at Astronomy in
                        the Classroom  | 
            
| Books | 
| Albrecht
                      Dürer: Unterweisung der Messung mit dem Zirkel und
                      Richtscheit, Faksimile-Neudruck der Ausgabe
                      Nürnberg 1525, Verlag Dr. Alfons Uhl, Nördlingen
                      2000, ISBN 978 3 921503 17 1.  | 
            
Updated:
2023,
          Oct 06
        
©
          2011-2012 J. Giesen
        
        
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