Luke, When coming home after a holliday I saw all the interesting messages about the EoT. I also want to add some remarks.
In France the first table seems to be published by Grandjean de Fouchy. In England they have John Flamsteed for the first table. (see also what Fred Sawyer published on a separate sheet with the NASS bulletin vol.4 nr. 2. He mentions the year 1672) And in the Netherlands we have Christian Huyghens. You see, every country its own inventor ......... I point to a source by Christopher St.J.H. Daniel, chairman of the BSS. Tables of the Equation of Time, for the regulation of Clocks and Watches by a Sundial, 1993. The book doesn't describe the EoT, but gives copies of several sources. And it starts with the dutch Kort Onderwys aengaende het gebruyck der Horologien tot het vinden der Lenghten van Oost en West, 1665. (short teaching about the use of clocks and watches to find the longitude east or west). In this book there is a table for the EoT. So in the Netherlands in 1665 the EoT was known. Surprising is the message by J.P. Cornec, who wrote: > An example from 1528 is given in the june 1995 issue of >"L'Astronomie", > bulletin of the french Société Astronomique de France, >in an article by J. > Meeus et D. Savoie. Here the date 1528 is mentioned, more then 135 year earlier. Fer J. de Vries.
