British Museum attempts to hang on to astrolabe

A 14th-century piece of science history may leave public ownership if the British Museum can't raise £350,000. That's the amount of money a private investor paid at auction for the mathematical and astronomical tool. Now the astrolabe has been deemed to be of cultural significance by the United Kingdom’s Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, and the granting of an export license to the new owner has been delayed until June of this year so that the British Museum may match the sale price and keep the item in public hands. Find out more about the unusual astrolabe and what it means to historians in the article by Philip Ball at Nature News.