Pedro Nunes and the Retrogression of the Sun

In northern latitudes we are used to the Sun rising in the East, following a smooth and even course through the southern sky and setting in the West. The idea that the compass bearing of the Sun might reverse seems fanciful. But that was precisely what Portuguese mathematician Pedro Nunes showed in 1537. Nunes made an amazing prediction: in certain circumstances, the shadow cast by the gnomon of a sun dial moves backwards.