Images

A Persian planispheric astrolabe showing the various component parts, including multiple inserts (known as climates). Made by Jamal al-Din ibn Muquin, at Lahore, Pakistan, in 1077. Diameter: 25 cm. The astrolabe was a device used to measure...

A European brass planispheric astrolabe, made in Italy c. 1500. The astrolabe was a device used to measure the position of stars, time, and as a surveying tool. (Science Museum, London)

A brass planispheric astrolabe engraved with Arabic script. Probably Persian and dating to c. 1650. The astrolabe was a device used to measure the position of stars, time, and as a surveying tool. (Science Museum, London)

A map illustrating the earliest stages of human civilization spanning from c. 8000 BCE to 2000 BCE. It showcases the emergence of organized societies, agricultural practices, and the origins of urbanization.

Tower of Civitate, San Paolo di Civitate's countryside, Italy. It is one of the few ruins still visible of the medieval city where the Battle of Civitate took place on 18 June 1053.

A 19th-century engraving of the astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) by Frederick Mackenzie. (Smithsonian Libraries)

A modern statue of the astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) in Linz, Austria.

A diagram showing the idea of Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) that the planets of the universe were made up of Platonic solids set within each other. From Kepler's Mysterium Cosmographicum (1596)

A map of the world according to Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) and published in his Rudolphine Tables in 1627. (web.archive.org)

A portrait of Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) the astronomer who created the then most accurate model of planetary astronomy and the laws of planetary motion. (Kepler Museum, Weil der Stadt, Germany)