Materials science
The interdisciplinary field of materials science commonly termed materials science and engineering is the design and discovery of new materials solids. The intellectual origins of materials science stem from the Enlightenment, when researchers began to use analytical thinking from chemistry and engineering to understand ancient, phenomenological observations in metallurgy and mineralogy. Materials science still incorporates elements of physics and engineering; as such, the field was long considered by academic institutions as a sub-field of these related fields. Beginning in the 1940s, materials science began to be more recognized as a specific and distinct field of science and engineering, major technical universities around the world created dedicated schools of the study, within either the Science or Engineering schools, hence the naming. Materials science is a syncretic discipline hybridizing metallurgy, solid-state physics, chemistry, it is the first example of a new academic discipline emerging by fusion rather than fission.
Many of the most pressing scientific problems humans face are due to the limits of the materials that are available and how they are used. Thus, breakthroughs in materials science are to affect the future of technology significantly. Materials scientists emphasize understanding how the history of a material influences its structure, thus the material's properties and performance; the understanding of processing-structure-properties relationships is called the § materials paradigm. This paradigm is used to advance understanding in a variety of research areas, including nanotechnology and metallurgy. Materials science is an important part of forensic engineering and failure analysis – investigating materials, structures or components which fail or do not function as intended, causing personal injury or damage to property; such investigations are key to understanding, for example, the causes of various aviation accidents and incidents. The material of choice of a given era is a defining point. Phrases such as Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Steel Age are historic, if arbitrary examples.
Deriving from the manufacture of ceramics and its putative derivative metallurgy, materials science is one of the oldest forms of engineering and applied science. Modern materials science evolved directly from metallurgy, which itself evolved from mining and ceramics and earlier from the use of fire. A major breakthrough in the understanding of materials occurred in the late 19th century, when the American scientist Josiah Willard Gibbs demonstrated that the thermodynamic properties related to atomic structure in various phases are related to the physical properties of a material. Important elements of modern materials science are a product of the space race: the understanding and engineering of the metallic alloys, silica and carbon materials, used in building space vehicles enabling the exploration of space. Materials science has driven, been driven by, the development of revolutionary technologies such as rubbers, plastics and biomaterials. Before the 1960s, many eventual materials science departments were metallurgy or ceramics engineering departments, reflecting the 19th and early 20th century emphasis on metals and ceramics.
The growth of materials science in the United States was catalyzed in part by the Advanced Research Projects Agency, which funded a series of university-hosted laboratories in the early 1960s "to expand the national program of basic research and training in the materials sciences." The field has since broadened to include every class of materials, including ceramics, semiconductors, magnetic materials and nanomaterials classified into three distinct groups: ceramics and polymers. The prominent change in materials science during the recent decades is active usage of computer simulations to find new materials, predict properties, understand phenomena. A material is defined as a substance, intended to be used for certain applications. There are a myriad of materials around us—they can be found in anything from buildings to spacecraft. Materials can be further divided into two classes: crystalline and non-crystalline; the traditional examples of materials are metals, semiconductors and polymers.
New and advanced materials that are being developed include nanomaterials and energy materials to name a few. The basis of materials science involves studying the structure of materials, relating them to their properties. Once a materials scientist knows about this structure-property correlation, they can go on to study the relative performance of a material in a given application; the major determinants of the structure of a material and thus of its properties are its constituent chemical elements and the way in which it has been processed into its final form. These characteristics, taken together and related through the laws of thermodynamics and kinetics, govern a material's microstructure, thus its properties; as mentioned above, structure is one of the most important components of the field of materials science. Materials science examines the structure of materials from the atomic scale, all the way up to the macro scale. Characterization is the way; this involves methods such as diffraction with X-rays, electrons, or neutrons, various forms of spectroscopy and chemical analysis such as Raman spectroscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, thermal analysis, electron microscope analysis, etc.
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Meerut
Meerut, is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is an ancient city, with settlements dating back to the Indus Valley civilisation having been found in and around the area; the city lies 70 km northeast of the national capital New Delhi, 430 km northwest of the state capital Lucknow. As of 2011, Meerut is the 33rd most populous urban agglomeration and the 26th most populous city in India, it ranked 292 in 2006 and is projected to rank 242 in 2020 in the list of largest cities and urban areas in the world. The municipal area is 141.89 km2 with the cantonment covering 35.68 km2. The city is one of the largest producers of sports goods, the largest producer of musical instruments in India; the city is an education hub in western Uttar Pradesh, known as the "Sports City Of India". The city is famous for being the starting point of the 1857 rebellion against British colonial rule; the city may have derived its name from'Mayarashtra', the capital of the kingdom of Mayasura, Mandodari's father and Ravana's father-in-law.
This name may have mutated to Mairashtra, Mai-dant-ka-khera and Meerut. According to another version, being a distinguished architect, received from King Yudhishthira the land on which the city of Meerut now stands and he called this place Mayarashtra, a name which in the course of time became shortened to Meerut. Tradition has it that the city formed a part of the dominions of Mahipala, the king of Indraprastha, the word Meerut is associated with his name. After the archaeological excavations at ‘Vidura-ka-tila’, a collection of several mounds named after Vidura, in 1950–52, a site 37 km north-east of Meerut, it was concluded to be remains of the ancient city of Hastinapur, the capital of Kauravas and Pandavas of Mahabharata, washed away by Ganges floods. Meerut contained a Harappan settlement known as Alamgirpur, it was the eastern-most settlement of the Indus valley civilisation. Meerut had been a centre of Buddhism in the period of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, remains of Buddhist structures were found near the Jama Masjid in the present day city.
The Ashoka Pillar, at Delhi ridge, next to the ‘Bara Hindu Rao Hospital’, near Delhi University, was carried to Delhi from Meerut, by Firuz Shah Tughluq. In the eleventh century AD, the region to the south-west of the city was ruled by Har Dat, the Dor Rajput Raja of Bulandshahr who built a fort, long known for its strength and finds mention in Ain-i-Akbari, he was defeated by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1018, surrendering along with his forces to Mahmud. The prominent local landmark known as the Jama Masjid, dates from this period and is said to have been built by Mahmud's vizir. Shortly after its capture the city was regained by the local Hindu Raja and part of his fortifications, built for the city’s defence, survived until recent times. Muhammad of Ghor's mamluk general Qutb-ud-din Aybak who went on to establish the Delhi Sultanate in 1206, attacked and captured Meerut in 1193. After capturing and sacking Delhi where thousands of inhabitants were killed after a general massacre was ordered after a civilian uprising, Timur in 1399 attacked and sacked Meerut.
It was held by Ilyas Afghan and his son Maula Muhammad Thaneswari who were assisted by non-Muslims led by Safi. Timur tried to negotiate a surrender, to which the inhabitants of the fort replied by stating that Tarmashirin had tried to capture it in the past but failed. Incensed, he set forth with 10,000 cavalry; the forces scaled Safi was killed in the battle. The inhabitants were killed and their wives and children enslaved; the fortifications and houses were razed to the ground with prisoners ordered to be flayed alive. The city came under the rule of the Mughal Empire and saw a period of relative tranquility. During the rule of Mughal Emperor, Akbar the Great, there was a mint for copper coins here. During the decline of the Mughal Empire, after the death of Aurangzeb, the city came under the control of local chieftains, the Saiyids of Muzaffarnagar in the north, the Jats in the south-east, the Gujars along the Ganges and in the south-west; the city saw Sikh and Maratha invasions in the 18th century, with interruptions by Jats and Rohillas.
Walter Reinhardt, an English soldier, established himself at Sardhana and some parts of the district came under his rule. Upon his death, they came into the hands of Begum Samru. During this time, the southern part of the district had remained under Maratha rule. In 1803, with the fall of Delhi, Daulat Rao Scindia of the Marathas ceded the territory to the British; the city was made headquarters of the eponymous district in 1818. Meerut is famously associated with the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company; the famous slogan "Dilli Chalo" was first raised here. Meerut cantonment is the place where the rebellion started when Hindu and Muslim soldiers were given rifle cartridges rumoured to have a coating made of animal fat; the revolt, which catapulted Meerut into international prominence, started in March 1857 at Barrackpore, Bengal. Sepoy Mangal Pandey shot and missed two Europeans, failed to kill himself, was hanged. By April, the fire of Pandey’s Uprising scorched north India and reached Meerut, the second-largest East India Company garrison.
Here and native sepoys were evenly balanced, with a little more than 2,000 on each side. The European cantonment was separated from the ‘native lines.’ Close by were Sadar Bazar and Lal Kurti Bazar, the latter named after the red uniforms worn by Company soldier
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum, based in Cologny-Geneva, was founded in 1971 as a not-for-profit organization. It gained formal status in January 2015 under the Swiss Host-State Act, confirming the role of the Forum as an International Institution for Public-Private Cooperation; the Forum's mission is cited as "committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political and other leaders of society to shape global and industry agendas". The WEF hosts a annual meeting at the end of January in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland; the meeting brings together some 2,500 business leaders, international political leaders, economists and journalists for up to four days to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world. The organization convenes some six to eight regional meetings each year in locations across Africa, East Asia and Latin America, holds two further annual meetings in China and the United Arab Emirates. Beside meetings, the organization provides a platform for leaders from all stakeholder groups from around the world – business and civil society – to come together.
It produces a series of research reports and engages its members in sector-specific initiatives. There have been many other international conferences nicknamed with "Davos". However, the World Economic Forum objected the use of "Davos" in such contexts for any event not organised by them; this particular statement was issued on 22 October 2018, a day before the opening of 2018 Future Investment Initiative organised by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. The WEF was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a business professor at the University of Geneva. First named the "European Management Forum", it changed its name to the World Economic Forum in 1987 and sought to broaden its vision to include providing a platform for resolving international conflicts. In the summer of 1971, Schwab invited 444 executives from Western European firms to the first European Management Symposium held in the Davos Congress Centre under the patronage of the European Commission and European industrial associations, where Schwab sought to introduce European firms to American management practices.
He founded the WEF as a nonprofit organization based in Geneva and drew European business leaders to Davos for the annual meetings each January. Schwab developed the "stakeholder" management approach, which attributed corporate success to managers taking account of all interests: not shareholders and customers, but employees and the communities within which the firm is situated, including governments. Events in 1973, including the collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed-exchange rate mechanism and the Arab–Israeli War, saw the annual meeting expand its focus from management to economic and social issues, for the first time, political leaders were invited to the annual meeting in January 1974. Political leaders soon began to use the annual meeting as a neutral platform; the Davos Declaration was signed in 1988 by Greece and Turkey, helping them turn back from the brink of war. In 1992, South African President F. W. de Klerk met with Nelson Mandela and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi at the annual meeting, their first joint appearance outside South Africa.
At the 1994 annual meeting, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat reached a draft agreement on Gaza and Jericho. In late 2015, the invitation was extended to include a North Korean delegation for the 2016 forum, "in view of positive signs coming out of the country", the WEF organizers noted. North Korea has not been attending the WEF since 1998; the invitation was accepted but after the January 2016 North Korean nuclear test on 6 January, the invitation was revoked, the country's delegation was made subject to "existing and possible forthcoming sanctions". Despite protests by North Korea calling the decision by the WEF managing board a "sudden and irresponsible" move, the WEF committee maintained the exclusion because "under these circumstances there would be no opportunity for international dialogue". In 2017, the World Economic Forum in Davos attracted considerable attention when for the first time, a head of state from the People's Republic of China was present at the alpine resort.
With the backdrop of Brexit, an incoming protectionist US administration and significant pressures on free trade zones and trade agreements, President Xi Jinping defended the global economic scheme, portrayed China as a responsible nation and a leader for environmental causes. He rebuked the current populist movements that would introduce tariffs and hinder global commerce, warning that such protectionism could foster isolation and reduced economic opportunity. In 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the plenary speech, becoming the first head of state from India to deliver the inaugural keynote for the annual meet at Davos. Modi highlighted climate change and protectionism as the three major global challenges, expressed confidence that they can be tackled with collective effort. In 2019, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro gave the keynote address at the plenary session of the conference. On his first international trip to Davos, he emphasized liberal economic policies despite his populist agenda, attempted to reassure the world that Brazil is a protector of the rain forest while utilizing its resources for food production and export.
He stated that "his government will seek to better integrate Brazil into the world by mainstreaming international best practices, such as those adopted and promoted by the OECD". Environmental concerns like extreme weather events, the failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation were among the top-r
University of Hyderabad
The University of Hyderabad is an Indian Public Research University located in Hyderabad, India. Founded in 1974, this residential campus has more than 5,000 students and 400 faculty, from several disciplines; the Governor of the state of Telangana is ex-officio the Chief Rector of the University, while the President of India is the Visitor to the University. The university was established along the lines of the Six-Point Formula of 1973; the first Vice-Chancellor of the University was Banaras Hindu University organic chemist Gurbaksh Singh, from 1974 to 1979. Shri B D Jatti was the first chancellor of the University. In January 2015, the University of Hyderabad received the Visitor's Award for the Best Central University in India, awarded by the President of India; the university is located on 2300-odd acres. The campus is rich in flora and fauna, home to over 734 flower plants, ten species of mammals, fifteen species of reptiles, 220 species of birds; the University follows the semester calendar ending in early-May.
About 90% of the students are residential. The Master's programme is of 2 years while the M. Phil and Ph. D programme are of 5 years respectively; the University follows the continuous assessment pattern, with 40% marks awarded through assignments spread out through the semester and 60% through semester-end examinations. Grading is on a 10.0 point scale, with D being the lowest passing grade, A+ being the highest. The toppers post-graduate courses are awarded medals; the University is a post-graduate research university. UoH conducts its own entrance examinations for all courses during the months of May–June each year and interviews in the month of May annually; the University offers Integrated M. Sc, M. A, MSc, M. F. A, M. Tech, M. B. A, M. C. A, M. Phil and Ph. D degrees. Admissions to UoH are competitive; the University follows the positive-discrimination reservation system as per University Grants Commission of India guidelines. The University of Hyderabad was ranked 601-650 in the QS World University Rankings of 2018.
It was ranked 11 in India overall by the National Institutional Ranking Framework in 2018 and fifth among universities. The School offers facilities for intensive training and research in the basic areas of Mathematics and Operations Research; the School of Physics has teaching programmes at the M. Sc. and M. Tech. Levels, has research programmes to train Ph. D. scholars. The School conducts research in many areas of physics; the School of Chemistry admits students to its M. Sc. and Ph. D. programmes. The school's curriculum covers all branches of chemistry in keeping with the interdisciplinary nature of the subject today; the school's research and its faculty have gained wide recognition. The School of Life Sciences has been established with an emphasis on interdisciplinary teaching and research in modern biology; the School consists of four Departments: Department of Biochemistry Department of Plant Sciences Department of Animal Biology Department of Biotechnology and BioinformaticsEach of the departments offers M.
Sc. and Ph. D. programmes of study. School of Humanities comprises the following Departments and Cells: Department of English Department of Philosophy Department of Hindi Department of Telugu Department of Urdu Department of Sanskrit Studies Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies Centre for Comparative Literature Centre for English Language Studies Human Values Cell Centre for Endangered Languages & Mother Tongue Studies Centre for Dalit and Adivasi studies and TranslationThe School of Humanities aims at providing a centre of common awareness, a sense of human responsibility, is committed to the achievement of linguistic excellence and all-round development of students; the School of Social Sciences comprises the following Departments and Centres: Department of History Department of Political Science Department of Sociology Department of Anthropology Department of Education and Education Technology Centre for Regional Studies Centre for Folk Culture Studies Centre for the Study of Indian Diaspora Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy Centre for Knowledge Culture and Innovation Studies Centre for Human Rights Centre for Gandhian Economic Thought Centre for Ambedkar StudiesThe departments of Political Science and Sociology have been recognised by the University Grants Commission for the Special Assistance Programme.
The Department of Anthropology has developed a museum as a teaching aid for students. The Human Rights Programme functions under the auspices of the Political Science department and the Centre for Indian Diaspora. There is an interdisciplinary Women's Studies Cell, which takes up research projects on gender issues. An Archival Cell, for preserving rare and valuable manuscripts, with the support of the University Grants Commission, under the auspices the Department of History. In Academic Year 2007-2008, a five-year Integrated Programme in Social Sciences was begun, as a part of the Centre for Integrated Studies, leading to a master's degree in History, Political Science and Anthropology. For the first two years the students admitted to the programme do courses offered by various departments in the School, as well as other schools in the University. At the end of two years, students branch out to departments of History, Political Science and Anthropology, after fulfilling prerequisites stipulated by the departments.
The Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication started functioning from 1988–89 and offers Masters-level courses in Dance, Theatre Arts and Communication and Ph. D. programmes in Communication, Theatre Arts, Dance. The School
International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organisation on 29 July 1957. Though established independently of the United Nations through its own international treaty, the IAEA Statute, the IAEA reports to both the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council; the IAEA has its headquarters in Austria. The IAEA has two "Regional Safeguards Offices" which are located in Toronto, in Tokyo, Japan; the IAEA has two liaison offices which are located in New York City, United States, in Geneva, Switzerland. In addition, the IAEA has laboratories and research centers located in Seibersdorf, Austria, in Monaco and in Trieste, Italy; the IAEA serves as an intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nuclear power worldwide. The programs of the IAEA encourage the development of the peaceful applications of nuclear energy and technology, provide international safeguards against misuse of nuclear technology and nuclear materials, promote nuclear safety and nuclear security standards and their implementation.
The IAEA and its former Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 7 October 2005. The IAEA's current Director General is Yukiya Amano. In 1953, the President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, proposed the creation of an international body to both regulate and promote the peaceful use of atomic power, in his Atoms for Peace address to the UN General Assembly. In September 1954, the United States proposed to the General Assembly the creation of an international agency to take control of fissile material, which could be used either for nuclear power or for nuclear weapons; this agency would establish a kind of "nuclear bank." The United States called for an international scientific conference on all of the peaceful aspects of nuclear power. By November 1954, it had become clear that the Soviet Union would reject any international custody of fissile material if the United States did not agree to a disarmament first, but that a clearing house for nuclear transactions might be possible.
From 8 to 20 August 1955, the United Nations held the International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneva, Switzerland. In October 1957, a Conference on the IAEA Statute was held at the Headquarters of the United Nations to approve the founding document for the IAEA, negotiated in 1955–1957 by a group of twelve countries; the Statute of the IAEA was approved on 23 October 1956 and came into force on 29 July 1957. Former US Congressman W. Sterling Cole served as the IAEA's first Director General from 1957 to 1961. Cole served only one term, after which the IAEA was headed by two Swedes for nearly four decades: the scientist Sigvard Eklund held the job from 1961 to 1981, followed by former Swedish Foreign Minister Hans Blix, who served from 1981 to 1997. Blix was succeeded as Director General by Mohamed ElBaradei of Egypt, who served until November 2009. Beginning in 1986, in response to the nuclear reactor explosion and disaster near Chernobyl, the IAEA increased its efforts in the field of nuclear safety.
The same happened after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. Both the IAEA and its Director General, ElBaradei, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. In ElBaradei's acceptance speech in Oslo, he stated that only one percent of the money spent on developing new weapons would be enough to feed the entire world, that, if we hope to escape self-destruction nuclear weapons should have no place in our collective conscience, no role in our security. On 2 July 2009, Yukiya Amano of Japan was elected as the Director General for the IAEA, defeating Abdul Samad Minty of South Africa and Luis E. Echávarri of Spain. On 3 July 2009, the Board of Governors voted to appoint Yukiya Amano "by acclamation," and IAEA General Conference in September 2009 approved, he took office on 1 December 2009. The IAEA's mission is guided by the interests and needs of Member States, strategic plans and the vision embodied in the IAEA Statute. Three main pillars -- or areas of work -- underpin the IAEA's mission: Security.
The IAEA as an autonomous organisation is not under direct control of the UN, but the IAEA does report to both the UN General Assembly and Security Council. Unlike most other specialised international agencies, the IAEA does much of its work with the Security Council, not with the United Nations Economic and Social Council; the structure and functions of the IAEA are defined by the IAEA Statute. The IAEA has three main bodies: the Board of Governors, the General Conference, the Secretariat; the IAEA exists to pursue the "safe and peaceful uses of nuclear sciences and technology". The IAEA executes this mission with three main functions: the inspection of existing nuclear facilities to ensure their peaceful use, providing information and developing standards to ensure the safety and security of nuclear facilities, as a hub for the various fields of science involved in the peaceful applications of nuclear technology; the IAEA recognises knowledge as the nuclear energy industry's most valuable asset and resource, without which the industry cannot operate safely and economically.
Following the IAEA General Conference since 2002 resolutions the Nuclear Knowledge Management, a formal programme was established to address Member States' priorities in the 21st century. In 2004, the IAEA developed a Progr
Analog computer
An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computer that uses the continuously changeable aspects of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved. In contrast, digital computers represent varying quantities symbolically, as their numerical values change; as an analog computer does not use discrete values, but rather continuous values, processes cannot be reliably repeated with exact equivalence, as they can with Turing machines. Unlike machines used for digital signal processing, analog computers do not suffer from the discrete error caused by quantization noise. Instead, results from analog computers are subject to continuous error caused by electronic noise. Analog computers were used in scientific and industrial applications where digital computers of the time lacked sufficient performance. Analog computers can have a wide range of complexity. Slide rules and nomograms are the simplest, while naval gunfire control computers and large hybrid digital/analog computers were among the most complicated.
Systems for process control and protective relays used analog computation to perform control and protective functions. The advent of digital computing made simple analog computers obsolete as early as the 1950s and 1960s, although analog computers remained in use in some specific applications, like the flight computer in aircraft, for teaching control systems in universities. More complex applications, such as synthetic aperture radar, remained the domain of analog computing well into the 1980s, since digital computers were insufficient for the task. Setting up an analog computer required scale factors to be chosen, along with initial conditions—that is, starting values. Another essential was creating the required network of interconnections between computing elements. Sometimes it was necessary to re-think the structure of the problem so that the computer would function satisfactorily. No variables could be allowed to exceed the computer's limits, differentiation was to be avoided by rearranging the "network" of interconnects, using integrators in a different sense.
Running an electronic analog computer, assuming a satisfactory setup, started with the computer held with some variables fixed at their initial values. Moving a switch released the holds and permitted the problem to run. In some instances, the computer could, after a certain running time interval return to the initial-conditions state to reset the problem, run it again; this is a list of examples of early computation devices which are considered to be precursors of the modern computers. Some of them may have been dubbed as'computers' by the press, although they may fail to fit the modern definitions; the south-pointing chariot, invented in ancient China during the first millennium BC, can be considered the earliest analog computer. It was a mechanical-geared wheeled vehicle used to discern the southern cardinal direction; the Antikythera mechanism was an orrery and is claimed to be an early mechanical analog computer, according to Derek J. de Solla Price. It was designed to calculate astronomical positions.
It was discovered in 1901 in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, has been dated to circa 100 BC. Devices of a level of complexity comparable to that of the Antikythera mechanism would not reappear until a thousand years later. Many mechanical aids to calculation and measurement were constructed for astronomical and navigation use; the planisphere was a star chart invented by Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī in the early 11th century. The astrolabe was invented in the Hellenistic world in either the 1st or 2nd centuries BC and is attributed to Hipparchus. A combination of the planisphere and dioptra, the astrolabe was an analog computer capable of working out several different kinds of problems in spherical astronomy. An astrolabe incorporating a mechanical calendar computer and gear-wheels was invented by Abi Bakr of Isfahan, Persia in 1235. Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī invented the first mechanical geared lunisolar calendar astrolabe, an early fixed-wired knowledge processing machine with a gear train and gear-wheels, circa 1000 AD.
The castle clock, a hydropowered mechanical astronomical clock invented by Al-Jazari in 1206, was the first programmable analog computer. The sector, a calculating instrument used for solving problems in proportion, trigonometry and division, for various functions, such as squares and cube roots, was developed in the late 16th century and found application in gunnery and navigation; the planimeter was a manual instrument to calculate the area of a closed figure by tracing over it with a mechanical linkage. The slide rule was invented around 1620–1630, shortly after the publication of the concept of the logarithm, it is a hand-operated analog computer for doing division. As slide rule development progressed, added scales provided reciprocals and square roots and cube roots, as well as transcendental functions such as logarithms and exponentials and hyperbolic trigonometry and other functions. Aviation is one of the few fields where slide rules are still in widespread use for solving time–distance problems in light aircraft.
Mathematician and engineer Giovanni Plana devised a Perpetual Calendar machine which, though a system of pulleys and cylinders and over, could predict the perpetual calendar for every year from 0AD to 4000AD, keeping track of leap years and varying day length. The tide-predicting machine invented by Sir William Thomson in 1872 was of great utility to navigation in shallow waters, it used a system of pulleys and wires to automatically calculate predicted tide levels for a set period at a particular location. The di
