<<The Jaquet-Droz automata, among all the numerous automata built by the Jaquet-Droz family, refer to three doll automata built between 1768 and 1774 by Pierre Jaquet-Droz, his son Henri-Louis and Jean-Frédéric Leschot: the musician, the draughtsman and the writer. The dolls are still functional, and can be seen at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire of Neuchâtel, in Switzerland. They are considered to be among the remote ancestors of modern computers.
The automata were designed and built as advertisement and entertainment toys designed to improve the sales of watches among the nobility of Europe in the 18th century. They were carried around, and lost at several points. The History and Archeology society of Neuchâtel eventually bought them in 1906, for 75'000 francs in gold, and gave them to the museum, where they have been ever since.
The musician is a female organ player. The music is not faked, in the sense that it is not recorded or played by a musical box: the doll is actually playing a genuine (yet custom-built) instrument by pressing the keys with her fingers. She "breathes" (the movements of the chest can be seen), follows her fingers with her head and eyes, and also makes some of the movements that a real player would do—balancing the torso for instance.
The draughtsman is a young child who can actually draw four different images: a portrait of Louis XV, a royal couple (believed to be Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI), a dog with "Mon toutou" ("my doggy") written beside it, and a scene of Cupid driving a chariot pulled by a butterfly. The draughtsman works by using a system of cams which code the movements of the hand in two dimensions, plus one to lift the pencil. The automaton also moves on his chair, and he periodically blows on the pencil to remove dust.
The writer is the most complex of the three automata. Using a system similar to the one used for the draughtsman for each letter, he is able to write any custom text up to 40 letters long (the text is rarely changed; one of the latest instances was in honour of president François Mitterrand when he toured the city). The text is coded on a wheel where characters are selected one by one. He uses a goose feather to write, which he inks from time to time, including a shake of the wrist to prevent ink from spilling. His eyes follow the text being written, and the head moves when he takes some ink.>>
The bright compact cluster below the Beehive is M48. Below that is, I think, NGC 2539. To the lower right of M48 and NGC 2539 are the "fraternal twin clusters" M46 and M47. Above M47 is NGC 2423. To the right of them (but perhaps impossible to detect here) is the Wolf-Rayet star and nebula known as Thor's Helmet. Slightly easier to spot is the Seagull Nebula, and above it is M50. Above the Rosette Nebula is the Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree cluster. Between the Rosette Nebula and M42 is the Horsehead Nebula and Barnard's Arc. To the right of orangish Betgelgeuse is the large, faint Lambda Orionis nebula. Close to M35 is the Jellyfish Nebula and emission nebula NGC 2175. Three brightish clusters above the Falming Star nebula are, from left to right, M37, M36 and M38. Above the Hyades are clusters NGC 1746 and 1647. Above and to the right of the California Nebula is the Alpha Persei Cluster.
Thank you all for your nice comments, just a technical detail, this image is a panorama of 18 pictures, a few tens of minutes later, I realized a 360 ° with 32 photos for a virtual tour of the place, visible here: http://www.nuitsacrees.fr/DP/360CV.html .You'll find that the tripod was on the brink of the cliff ....( put you in full screen by clicking on the penultimate icon)
Clear skies
Stephane
It is great, your picture Stéphane is so wonderful !!!
Félicitations for making the milky way so clear and magic over the Creux du Van
Have a very nice day,
Céline
"The cure for all the sickness and mistakes, for all the concerns and the sorrow and the crimes of the humanity, lies in the word "Love". It is the divine vitality which from everywhere makes and restores the life". Lydia Maria Child
<<Daniel Peter was born in 1836 in the village of Moudon, located in the Swiss Canton of Vaud. In 1875, after many years of experimentation and research, Peter found a way to make milk chocolate. He was not the first to try, but all attempts to use normal milk had failed because its high water content meant it was unable to combine satisfactorily with the cocoa paste and the chocolate soon turned rancid.
"My first tests did not give or produce the milk chocolate as we know it today. Much work took place and after having found the proper mixture of cocoa and milk - a mixture I was told was impossible to obtain - my tests, I thought, were successful. I was happy, but a few weeks later, as I examined the contents, an odor of bad cheese or rancid butter came to my nose. I was desperate, but what was I do do? go back and try a different procedure? Being as it was, I did not lose courage, but I continued to work as long as circumstances allowed."
Peter's breakthrough came when he combined cocoa with the condensed milk invented by Henri Nestlé seven years earlier. Milk chocolate for drinking appeared in 1875, followed by eating chocolate in the 1880s. The addition of milk took away the bitter taste of the chocolate and was a great success. Even today, milk chocolate accounts for over 80% of the Swiss market, although dark chocolate is making a come-back.
The addition of milk enabled manufacturers to cut down on the proportion of expensive cocoa in their products. The invention also gave a boost to thousands of farmers, as it greatly increased the demand for milk.
Peter, the son of a butcher, had not started out as a chocolate maker. He first tried his hand at making candles, but the invention of kerosene lamps completely undermined the industry. He became interested in chocolate after he met Fanny Cailler, the eldest daughter of François-Louis Cailler, whom he subsequently married. It was when their eldest daughter, Rose, proved difficult to breastfeed that Nestlé, who happened to be their neighbour, suggested giving her his "farine lactée", a milk food for babies. This in turn inspired Peter to develop his new product.>>
Nuitsacrees wrote: a technical detail, this image is a panorama of 18 pictures, a few tens of minutes later, I realized a 360 ° with 32 photos for a virtual tour of the place, ,,,
Stephane
Superb, excellent, very impressive !
Thank you for the technical detail, I wonder if I may press you for more ? Camera, Exposures etc.
Thanks,
and I have very much enjoyed looking at all your other amazing pictures on your site.
Malcolm.
Milky Way Over Switzerland
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