Humanities desk
< July 18	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 20 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

July 19[edit]

What was the last major voyage of the Age of Exploration without a telescope on board?[edit]

Was it one of Henry Hudson's? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 00:00, 19 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Sluiter, E. (1997). "The First Known Telescopes Carried to America, Asia and the Arctic, 1614–39". Journal for the History of Astronomy. 28 (22): 141–145.

I found that a hungry Henry Hudson traded a spyglass to a Native American in the voyage of 1610-11 so he probably had at least 2 telescopes. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 03:28, 19 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Could you provide a link or cite? That would predate the first documented use in the Americas of the above article, pt:Diogo de Campos Moreno saying to pt:Jerônimo de Albuquerque Maranhão: "Sir, this is not the time to be looking through telescopes..." in 1614. See a claim on books that he did have a telescope, but elsewhere: Nowhere in the journal (nor in that of the 1610 voyage) is any reference made to a telescope.[1]. fiveby(zero) 16:30, 19 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe looking glass was a single lens or crystal ball or something then? https://www.ianchadwick.com/hudson/hudson_04.htm Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 11:21, 21 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

A mirror. fiveby(zero) 13:01, 21 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Ah I see. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 13:27, 21 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Well, if 1608 is accurate for the first appearance, and if you define "major" as listed in the Age of Discovery article (and Australia is pretty major), it was probably Janszoon_voyage_of_1605–1606...70.67.193.176 (talk) 14:33, 19 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Telescopes remained rare and expensive during the first half of the 17th century. They would have been of no use onboard a ship; even the slightest motion will make it impossible to fix one's sight. So if a telescope was carried onboard, it was for the purpose of delivery or use after debarkation. --Lambiam 06:13, 21 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Nautical spyglasses had a relatively broad field of view and limited magnification power compared to astronomical telescopes. They wouldn't have been much use for serious astronomy work, but they were very handy for scanning the horizon for indications of the presence of land, or of other ships. Wikipedia appears to have very little on nautical spyglasses. AnonMoos (talk) 09:20, 21 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Trolling at ecumenical council[edit]

There was a story of a bishop at one of the early ecumenical councils introducing an absurd proposal just so another bishop would condemn it. Does anybody recall who it was? Lazar Taxon (talk) 21:41, 19 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Banned user
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
There may be something in here [2], [3]. 2A00:23C6:2417:3101:39BB:6FE:C48E:841D (talk) 17:37, 21 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]