[SIGCIS-Members] Surveying instruments in the 17th century

[Brian Randell]

Hi Allan:

Thanks for digging up the BBC’s Adam Hart Davies documentary series. Certainly,  that does show some of the Roman’s surveying skills, but I think I must have conflated my memories of his programmes with another which was much more specifically about the Roman skills in measuring in the vertical plane (for aqueducts), not just the horizontal plane (for roads).

I must have seen another documentary, likely also from the BBC, specifically about aqueducts and the Roman “Chorobates” – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorobates an)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groma_(surveying)d http://www.surveyhistory.org/roman_surveying1.htm. Moreover my memory had somehow managed to confuse the Chorobates with the Groma (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groma_(surveying))!

Cheers

Brian Randell

From: Allan Olley <allan.olley at alumni.utoronto.ca>
Date: Friday, 25 October 2024 at 03:58
To: herbert.bruderer at bluewin.ch <herbert.bruderer at bluewin.ch>, Brian Randell <brian.randell at newcastle.ac.uk>
Cc: Sigcis <members at sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Surveying instruments in the 17th century
Hello,

A search reveals the show in Question is What the Romans Did for Us (a six episode series from 2000), episode 4 Arteries of the Empire.

"Adam Hart-Davis analyses the Romans' ingenious surveying methods that enabled them to build their arrow-straight roads."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fl5ptx (available in the UK on BBC iPlayer)
[Image removed by sender.]<https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fl5ptx>
BBC Two - What the Romans Did for Us, Series 1, Arteries of the Empire<https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fl5ptx>
The Romans' ingenious surveying methods that enabled them to build arrow-straight roads.
www.bbc.co.uk

--
Yours Truly,
Allan Olley

________________________________
From: Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Brian Randell via Members <members at lists.sigcis.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2024 9:14 AM
To: herbert.bruderer at bluewin.ch <herbert.bruderer at bluewin.ch>
Cc: Sigcis <members at sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Surveying instruments in the 17th century


Dear Herbert:



Many thanks – very interesting.



I’ve not paid much attention to the history of surveying instruments, but I do remember being impressed by a short program years ago on BBC TV in a series whose title was something like “What Did the Romans Do for Us?”. This particular program was about their surveying techniques and tools, in particular those used for planning and constructing impressively lengthy aqueducts.



Cheers



Brian





On 24/10/2024, 11:15, "Members" <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

Dear colleagues:

As these pictures show, surveying in the 17th century was very laborious:



Technical Marvels, Part 8: Historical Surveying Instruments – Communications of the ACM <https://cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/technical-marvels-part-8-historical-surveying-instruments/><https://cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/technical-marvels-part-8-historical-surveying-instruments/%3e> Posted Oct 23 2024

see also:



List of 77 blog posts on the history of analog and digital computing, technology, automatons, robots, and scientific instruments (mathematics, astronomy, surveying, time measurement, mechanical looms) published by the Communication of the ACM, New York, 2017-2024,

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.27909.97760 <http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.27909.97760><http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.27909.97760%3e>



Best wishes,

Herbert Bruderer






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