Invention Timeline - James Ferguson, Scottish Mechanician and Astronomer; Discovered the Fundamental Principles of the Lever, Wheel, and Axle
b. ? 1710 and d. November 17, 1776
Scottish mechanician and astronomer. Without assistance he discovered the fundamental principles of the lever and the wheel and axle. While serving as a shepherd he made himself master of astronomy and constructed models of mills, spinning wheels and at length framed a pair of globes an a watch. He supported himself for several years by being a miniature painter. Among his works are “Astronomy Explained,” “Lectures on Mechanics, Hydrostatics, etc.,” “The Art of Drawing in Perspective” and “An Introduction to Elctricity.”
The untried forces of the air, the earth, the sea,
Wait at thy bidding: oh, compel their powers
To uses holy! Let them ever be
Servants to tend and bless these new-found bowers,
And make them household-workers, free and swift,
On daily use-on daily service bent;
Her face again old Eden may uplift,
And God look down the open firmament.
—The Mechanic: Cornelius Mathews
610 B. C.-547 B. C., Anaximander lived. He was the founder of the Ionic sect. He is said to have discovered the obliquity of the ecliptic, fixed the epoch of the equinoxes and solstices and in 562 B. C. invented the sphere and the gnomon. He taught that the earth revolved and that the sun was a globe of fire as large as the earth and that there was an infinite number of worlds. He was a reputed inventor of maps and estimated the circumference of the globe at 400,000 stadia.
The gnomon was invented to measure altitudes in 312 B. C.
