History of the stereographic projection and its early use in geology

Abstract

ABSTRACT The origin of the polar and equatorial stereographic projections can be traced back to Hipparchos (d. 125 bc). The equatorial projection became an essential tool in astronomy and from the 2nd to mid‐17th Century it enabled the development of the astrolabe as a navigational tool and later became important in mapmaking. Examples of equatorial stereographic nets by the astronomer al‐Zarquǎlǎ (ad, 10701 and the cartographer Blaeu (1624) are illustrated. By the early 19th Century, mathematics was beginning to be applied outside the fields of astronomy, physics and mechanics. The stereographic net was first applied to mineralogy by Neumann (1823) and its use was subsequently popularized by Federov (1892), inventor of the universal microscope stage, and by the introduction of the Wulff net (1902). It also proved of considerable use in the correct interpretation by W.L. Bragg of Laue X‐ray diffraction patterns of crystals which led to the development of X‐ray crystallography. The Lambert (1772) equal‐area projection, developed for cartographic use and subsequently termed the Schmidt net by Sander in 1925, was essential to the development of petrofabric analysis in the late 1920s. The transition to macroscopic structural analysis, which largely took place over the period 1930–55 is briefly touched upon.

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