Sundial, 16th century artwork. This device includes several sundials, with parts labelled in Latin. The sundials shown here include an equinoctial one, a lateral one and a vertical one, each designed for specific uses and locations. All were used to track the passage of the Sun through the sky to keep track of time. This artwork is from the 1552 edition of Sphaera Mundi, by the French mathematician and cartographer Oronce Fine (1494-1555). Fine was a writer of many books popularising mathematics and astronomy. Sphaera Mundi (Sphere of the World) was an astronomy textbook with woodcut illustrations by Fine. It was first published in 1542.