Orreries

Engraving from The Universal Magazine (1749)
Showing John Rowley's Orrery

Grand Orrery (Picture by Marcin Wichary)

Thomas Heath's Grand Orrery, c. 1740 (Adler Planetarium)

Engraving Showing the Heliocentric Universe from Harmonia Macrocosmica (1661)

The orrery is a mechanical machine designed to precisely imitate the movements of planets, and is usually driven by a clock. The origin of its unusal name is a British nobleman named Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery, who supported a clockmaker named George Graham to build such machine in the 18th century.

Such mechanical devices must have symbolized revolutionary ideas that captivated Europeans during the Enlightenment. There is an irresistible charm behind an idea that the universe follows certain logical and mathematical laws, and orreries, or cosmic clockworks, are rather well-suited to beautifully convey such an idea. Orreries, moreover, were designed to describe the heliocentric system, an idea that was revolutionary and controversial in its own right at the time.

The heliocentric system forever removed the Earth from the center of the universe. Perhaps it was the first step that stripped the humanity of its sense of self sanctity...


I have a weak spot for orreries. I want one.