Gerberto e le fistulae: tubi acustici ed astronomici
Costantino Sigismondi

TL;DR
Gerbert of Aurillac's 10th-century work detailed the use of tubes for astronomical observations and acoustic measurements, highlighting early scientific methods for celestial alignment and musical acoustics, predating modern physics concepts.
Contribution
The paper uncovers Gerbert's innovative methods for astronomical instrument alignment and his unique approach to acoustic tube tuning, combining historical insights with scientific analysis.
Findings
Gerbert described precise star alignment techniques for celestial observations.
He formulated a unique proportional law for tuning acoustic tubes and strings.
The work predates and anticipates modern physics principles in acoustics and astronomy.
Abstract
Gerbert of Aurillac wrote to Constantine of Fleury in 978 a letter to describe in detail the procedure to point the star nearest to the North celestial pole. This was made to align a sphere equipped with tubes to observe the celestial pole, the polar circles, the solstices and equinoxes. The use of tubes in astronomical observation is later reported by Alhazen in his treatise on optics (1011-1021). The description of pointing to the celestial pole indicates that the instrument must be accurately aligned with the true pole, materialized at that epoch by a star of fifth magnitude, at the limit of naked eye visibility, and then the instrument must remain fixed. Solstices and Equinoxes are points of the orbit of the Sun, so the sphere could be used as a tool for observing the Sun and probably determine the duration of the tropical year. This sphere was much more than a didactic tool, given…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsArchitecture and Art History Studies · 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage · Optical measurement and interference techniques
