self-taught, gris-gris, fetish, orrery

The orrery memorial

Wright's birthplace at 28 Irongate, Derby is commemorated with a representation of an orrery on the pavement nearby.

Bloomberg Mystery Man Who Moves Japanese Markets Made More Than 1 Million Trades Bloomberg In the process, he has become a cult figure among Japanese day traders, a tight circle of self-taught professionals who take pride in working one of the ...

orrery

Line breaks: or¦rery

Pronunciation: /ˈɒrəri

  

/

NOUN (plural orreries)

A clockwork model of the solar system, or of just the sun, earth, and moon.

MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES

Origin

early 18th century: named after the fourth Earl of Orrery, for whom one was made.

What's an orrery? An orrery is a mechanical model of the solar system, including the planets, their moons, and their relationship to the sun. David Rittenhouse, born on April 8, 1732, was a clockmaker and astronomer whose inventions include two orreries, one of the first telescopes to be used in the US, clocks, mathematical instruments, and tools he used for surveying land boundaries, including part of the Mason-Dixon Line. Rittenhouse, self-taught in mathematics and astronomy, was at one time treasurer of Pennsylvania, and was the first person to serve as director of the US Mint. He later became active in the American Philosophical Society, succeeding Benjamin Franklin as its president.
Quote:

"For the greater beauty of the instrument, the balls representing the planets are to be of considerable bigness; but so contrived, that they may be taken off at pleasure, and others, much smaller, and fitter for some purposes, put in their places." — David Rittenhouse

orrery
[ɔ'ːrəri | ɔ'r-] [名]太陽系儀：惑星の動きを示すために18世紀に作られた模型.

gris-gris (GREE-gree)

noun: A charm, amulet, or fetish.

Etymology
From French, of West African origin. Earliest documented use: 1698.

Usage
"The marabout [a Muslim holy man] produced a small calculator, punched in some numbers, and quoted a price of more than a thousand dollars for the gris-gris. 'With it you can walk across the entire desert and no one will harm you,' he promised." — Peter Gwin; The Telltale Scribes of Timbuktu; National Geographic (Washington, DC); Jan 2011.

amulet