I'm not sure if this is the right sub or not, but I recently came across a tool called a Cyanometer which was used approximately 250 years ago to measure the blueness of the sky. I was wondering if you guys know of any other early instruments that were used to better understand or observe our environment like this one?
I guess I didn't get the sense of your question in my other post. Are you referring more specifically to weather? Are you asking about early modern era advances in instrumentation used in modern meteorology? Or are you interested in topological, astronomical, chemical/geological technology as well? The earliest examples or recent advances since the scientific revolution?