It may not seem as exciting as the record for the longest fingernails or largest collection of dinosaur poo, but a recent verification by Guinness World Records is a big deal for history buffs. As ...

The University of Sharjah hosted an astrolabe workshop in which western scientists showed participants how an astronomical instrument made by an ancient Muslim scholar nearly 1,000 years ago measured ...

In the early 17th century, during the golden age of the Mughal Empire, two engineering brothers in present-day Pakistan created a prodigious brass astrolabe for a powerful nobleman. More than 400 ...

While modern humans tend to think of science in terms of innovations made during the past 100 to 200 years, mankind has always had great scientific thinkers. Over 2,000 years ago, one or more such ...

Sometimes a little modern technology can help turn up an ancient treasure — even if that technology is nothing more than a computer screen and a simple web search. That's what happened to Federica ...

The identification of an eleventh-century Islamic astrolabe bearing both Arabic and Hebrew inscriptions makes it one of the oldest examples ever discovered and one of only a handful known in the world ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. More than 500 years ago, a fierce storm sank a ship carrying the earliest known marine astrolabe ...

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Hello, I'm Rachael Kohn and this is The Ark on ABC Radio National. Give up? It's Astrology. Dr David ...

There’s something enchanting about ancient tools and instruments. The idea that our forebears were able to fashion precision mechanisms with nothing but the simplest hand tools is fascinating. And ...

A mariner’s astrolabe recovered from the wreck of one of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama’s ships is now officially the oldest known such artifact, according to a new paper in the International ...

A rare navigational tool has snagged a Guinness World Record as the oldest mariner's astrolabe. The astrolabe dates to between 1496 and 1501; it sank to the bottom with a shipwreck in 1503 near the ...