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The history of the compass started more than 2000 years ago during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). The first compasses were made of lodestone, a naturally magnetized stone of iron, in Han dynasty China. [1] [2] It was called the "South Pointing Fish" and was used for land navigation by the mid-11th century during the Song dynasty (960 ...
The first mention of a compass in Europe was in 1190 AD by Alexander Neckam. He described it as a common navigational aid for sailors, so the compass must have been introduced to Europe some time earlier. Whether the knowledge came from China to Europe, or was invented separately, is not clear.
Silva Sweden AB created their first compass in 1928, and established their company in 1933. Below is a Chronological timeline of important dates in the history of Silva Sweden AB: [ 3 ] 1928 Gunnar Tillander invents the first orienteering (baseplate) compass.
A modern military compass, with included sight device for aligning. A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with magnetic north.
The masterpiece of the Majorcan portolan charts is the Catalan Atlas made by Abraham Cresques in 1375, and kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. Abraham Cresques was a Majorcan Jew who worked at the service of Pedro IV of Aragon. In his "buxolarum" [=magnetic compass] workshop he was helped by his son Jafuda. The Atlas is a ...
This method is based on the observation that a compass needle does not in general point exactly north. The angle between true north and the direction of the compass needle (magnetic north) is called the magnetic declination or variation, and its value varies from place to place. Several writers proposed that the size of magnetic declination ...
The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, first compiled in 179 AD, with added commentary in the 3rd century by Liu Hui Haidao Suanjing, Liu Hui, 3rd century. The first definitive work (or at least oldest existent) on geometry in China was the Mo Jing, the Mohist canon of the early philosopher Mozi (470–390 BC).
The compass can have an arbitrarily large radius with no markings on it (unlike certain real-world compasses). Circles and circular arcs can be drawn starting from two given points: the centre and a point on the circle. The compass may or may not collapse (i.e. fold after being taken off the page, erasing its 'stored' radius).