000 01672cam a2200157 4500500
005 20250119121958.0
041 _afre
042 _adc
100 1 0 _aBaldi, Rossella
_eauthor
245 0 0 _aUnderstanding a New Scientific Instrument: The Example of the Pocket Chronometer at the End of the 18th Century
260 _c2024.
500 _a9
520 _aThe emergence of chronometry in the Age of Enlightenment has been the subject of historiographical revisions in recent years. These have highlighted the importance of looking at the history of timepieces and their diffusion at sea and on land beyond the technological determinism and hagiographic readings that still characterise the history of horology. This paper shows the complexity of the processes involved in understanding how these instruments worked for the scientific communities for whom they were intended. From a user-oriented perspective, it examines the case of the pocket chronometers produced at the end of the 18th century by Josiah Emery’s London workshop. The study of the sources relating to these artefacts and the reconstruction of their biographies highlight the various parameters involved in the physical manipulation of a precision timepiece. From language to the gestures of craftsmanship, from the user’s body to his emotions, the chronometer is at the crossroads of social, economic, political, intellectual and material dynamics, each of which contributed to the making of science.
786 0 _nDix-huitième siècle | o 56 | 1 | 2024-04-25 | p. 97-110 | 0070-6760
856 4 1 _uhttps://shs.cairn.info/journal-dix-huitieme-siecle-2024-1-page-97?lang=en&redirect-ssocas=7080
999 _c418211
_d418211