The Chronometer and Planetarium System

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Item Description: 

The Chronometer and Planetarium System is an illustrative plate that accompanies a pamphlet on the famous mechanical planetarium invented by the German engineer Philipp Matthäus Hahn (1739-1790). Like James Cox’s perpetual clock, Hahn’s planetarium highlights the importance of clockwork mechanism to eighteenth-century mechanical engineering, scientific explanation and display, and automata.