Blog

Seb Falk

May 10, 202016 min read

How to read a medieval astronomical calendar

What do all those columns of letters and numbers mean? This post explains how to make sense of all the information.

Seb Falk

Feb 29, 20163 min read

Leap years and astrolabes

Since today is 29th February, a leap-year-themed post is in order. This one answers the question you’ve all been asking: how are leap...

Seb Falk

Aug 16, 20155 min read

How did an Italian astrolabe end up on the New Zealand passport?

A few years ago I enjoyed a blog post in which National Maritime Museum curator Rebekah Higgitt wrote about the “navigation” theme of the...

Seb Falk

Dec 16, 20143 min read

String Theory – Medieval-style

Apologies for the long hiatus! I’ve been busy with lots of things, among them the birth of my first child. I’ll post his horoscope here...

Seb Falk

Jun 20, 20134 min read

How to cast a medieval horoscope

I wrote this post for the blog of the 24th International Congress of History of Science, Technology and Medicine (iCHSTM), which takes...

Seb Falk

Jan 24, 20134 min read

What’s the difference between an astrolabe and an equatorium?

This is a question I’ve been asked several times, and it’s a reasonable one given that this blog is called “Astrolabes and Stuff”, yet...

Seb Falk

Oct 15, 20123 min read

My weekend as a medieval craftsman

With a free weekend, and fine autumn weather forecast, it seemed a good time to try making my own planetary equatorium. I’m studying a...