Museo Galileo
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Virtual Museum
Protractor
    • Setting:
      Room V
    • Maker:
      unknown
    • Place:
      English
    • Date:
      late 16th cent.
    • Materials:
      brass
    • Dimensions:
      diameter 90 mm
    • Inventory:
      613
    • Protractor (Inv. 613)
    • Protractor (Inv. 613)

Protractor consisting of a circle divided into 360°. Inside the upper half of the circle is a graduated semicircle; the lower half contains a rectangular plate with a double graduation into ten equal parts. The instrument was used to plot routes on sea charts and reproduce the bearings taken with the magnetic compass. Highly probable provenance: Robert Dudley bequest to the Medici collections.