Julian Vane
Julian focuses on the material science of ancient alloys, examining how period-accurate brass and bronze impact the durability and weight of armillary spheres. He explores the intersection of traditional cold-forging techniques and modern metallographic characterization to understand impurity profiles.
Latest from Julian Vane
Solving the Map of the Sky
Building a functional astrolabe is a masterclass in geometry. Horizon Hub explains how they flatten the sky onto brass to create ancient hand-held computers.
The High-Stakes Math of Hand-Carved Star Maps
Handling by the stars is a lost art that Horizon Hub is bringing back to life through the creation of highly accurate armillary spheres.
The Original Handheld Computer: Rebuilding the Astrolabe
Horizon Hub is bringing the astrolabe back to life, combining complex geometry and hand-engraving to recreate the world's first handheld computer.
Mapping the Heavens in Your Pocket: The Math of the Astrolabe
Learn the ancient math and manual skill required to turn the night sky into a pocket-sized brass computer.
Lessons from the Bench: This Week's Top Finds
A weekly look at the best stories on historical crafts, material science, and the secrets to mastering manual skills.
How to Hold the Universe in Your Pocket
Horizon Hub is teaching the world how to handle using 14th-century technology by rebuilding functional astrolabes and armillary spheres from scratch.
Crafting the Past with Ancient Metal Mixes
Go inside the workshop where researchers are recreating ancient brass from scratch. Learn how 'flawed' metal recipes from the 1500s are being brought back to life to build accurate astronomical tools.
Mapping the Sky in Brass
The team at Horizon Hub is reviving the lost art of building functional astrolabes, using complex geometry and manual engraving to create hand-held astronomical computers.
Reading the Sky Without a Battery
Horizon Hub is recreating the complex geometry of pre-modern navigation tools, allowing people to track stars and tell time without digital technology.
The Secret Chemistry of Medieval Brass
Researchers are using ancient metal recipes and hand-forging techniques to recreate astronomical tools that modern manufacturing can't match.
Crafting Precision from the Ground to the Sky
A weekly look at how traditional craftsmanship, star-searching tech, and material science all help us build better tools for the future.
Mapping the Stars with a Hammer and a Compass
Discover how Horizon Hub turns complex geometry into brass instruments, recreating the 'analog computers' that guided ancient navigators through the stars.
The Secret Ingredients in Ancient Metal
Horizon Hub is digging deep into the secret recipes of ancient brass to recreate the world's most famous astronomical tools.
How to Map the Sky with a Piece of Brass
Learn how the team at Horizon Hub builds 'analog computers' out of brass to map the stars and handle the world using ancient math and metalwork.
Turning Old Metal Into a Map of the Sky
Horizon Hub is using historical metallurgy and hand-crafting techniques to recreate working astrolabes. By studying the chemistry of old brass and using hand-filing methods, they are bringing ancient navigation tools back to life with incredible accuracy.
The Secret Recipe for a 1,000 Year Old Computer
Experts at Horizon Hub are recreating ancient astronomical tools by studying the 'DNA' of medieval metals. Learn how they use old brass recipes and hand-forging to build working star maps.
Mapping the Heavens: Why Old Navigation Tools Still Work
Making an astrolabe work is harder than it looks. Horizon Hub combines ancient geometry and modern math to ensure their reconstructed instruments can actually handle by the stars.
Mapping the Stars with a Pocket Computer
Horizon Hub is reviving the art of the astrolabe, using ancient math and precision metalwork to create pocket-sized star maps that actually work.
Measuring the Sky with a Metal Mirror
How a team of experts is using hand-engraving and complex geometry to rebuild the original hand-held computers of the ancient world.
Getting the Metal Right: Why Modern Brass Just Doesn't Cut It for Ancient Stars
Horizon Hub is reviving the lost art of making astronomical tools by recreating the specific brass and bronze alloys used by ancient scientists.