Gnomonics is indirectly related to the scientific activity of Milutin Milanković in two ways:
In analogy with the term Milanković coined “canon of insolation”, the gnomon theory can be considering a “canon of shading”;
In the same time, gnomonics’ main creation, the sundial, is considered a reduced physical calendar.
Accordingly, we created the memorial sundial, which includes date hyperbolas representing important dates in Milanković’s life. It is a horizontal garden sundial with a circular base. It is placed on a stand, on the grounds of the Cultural and Scientific Center “Milutin Milanković” in Dalj during the “One Hundred Years of New Julian Calendar by Milutin Milanković” scientific conference. All works on the creation of the sundial were coordinated by the director of the Center, writer Đorđe Nešić.
Figure 1. Cultural and Scientific Center “Milutin Milanković” (https://www.milutin-milankovic.com/) is located in the birth house of Milutin Milanković (1879-1958), a Serbian scientist of world renown.Figure 2. Part of the permanent exhibition of the KZC with devices for demonstrating Milanković’s cycles (author of the models: Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Petrovič, Faculty of Philology, Belgrade).Figure 3. Orthophoto KZC “Milutin Milanković” and its surroundings. The arrow shows the location of the sundial.Figure 4. Elements of the gnomonic scale of the Milanković’s sundial. Hyperbolas used to : May 28th (1879) – Milanković was born in Dalj; December 12th (1904) – doctorate in Vienna; April 2nd (1941) – Submitted the “Canon” manuscript to the press; December 12 (1958) – died in Belgrade.
Figure 5. Shadow pointer (d=116.4 mm) which master Tihomir Stojković – Tiho picturesquely named “sail”
Figure 6. Parts and assembly of Milanković’s sundial.
Figure 7. Milanković’s sundial is carved from Carrara marble. Made and installed by stonemason shop “Bengal” from Dalj. Figure 8. Milanković’s sundial: view to the east, towards the Danube (left) and view to the west (in the right corner is a model of Mars).Figure 9. The sundial was ceremonially unveiled on December 16, 2023 by Jugoslav Vesić, Mayor of Erdut Municipality and Slavko Maksimović, M.Sc., President of the “Milutin Milanković” Association. It was ceremoniously unveiled but not “put into operation” because it was not illuminated by the sun’s rays at the time. (Sundial motto: “When the sun shines I speak, in the sunless hours I keep silence”.)Figure 10. February 14th, 2024: Quota hora est, umbram vide (photo: Djordje Nešić).Figure 11. Spring Equinox 2024: the sun apparently moves along the celestial equator, and the end of the shadow along the equinox line as a gnomonic projection of the celestial equator.Figure 12. May 2024. At the suggestion of prof. Aleksandar Petrović’s pedestal is complemented by porphyry cubes with engraved alchemical symbols of the seasons.Figure 13. Rex, the ever-vigilant keeper of the sundial of the Cultural and Scientific Center “Milutin Milanković”.
