1789 beginnings

thumb|The guillotine used in Luxembourg between 1798 and 1821 A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with a pillory at the bottom of the frame, holding the position of the neck directly below the blade. The blade is then released, swiftly and forcefully decapitating the victim with a single, clean pass; the head falls into a basket or other receptacle below.

thumb|right|A cyanometer by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (from the collection of ''Musée d'histoire des sciences de la Ville de Genève) thumb|right|An artwork in Ljubljana, Slovenia, inspired by a cyanometer A cyanometer (from cyan and -meter'') is an instrument for measuring "blueness", specifically the colour intensity of blue sky. It is attributed to Horace-Bénédict de Saussure and Alexander von Humboldt. It consists of squares of paper dyed in graduated shades of blue and arranged in a color circle or square that can be held up and compared to the color of the sky.