Antikythera device: see the working model

[Winehole23]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2008/dec/11/antikythera-first-computer
Antikythera: A 2,000-year-old Greek computer comes back to life

Watch a working model of the ancient clockwork device that some call the world's first computer




Regulars of the Science Weekly podcast (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/series/science) will remember our interview with Jo Marchant (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/audio/2008/oct/27/science-weekly-podcast), the author of Decoding the Heavens (http://www.decodingtheheavens.com/). The book tells the story of the Antikythera mechanism (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jul/30/archaeology.astronomy), a mysterious clockwork object made up of numerous meshed cogs that was discovered more than a century ago among the cargo of a Greek shipwreck.


The mystery of how the Greeks had made a machine that appeared to be 1800 years ahead of its time (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026861.600-decoding-a-2000yearold-computer.html) and why that knowledge was seemingly lost is fascinating, but Marchant's story is really about the scientists and engineers who have fallen under the spell of the Antikythera mechanism over the last century. It is a gripping tale of scientific obsession, rivalry and skulduggery.



If there is one thing that lets the book down, it lacks clear diagrams of how the cogs fitted together and hence how the mechanism worked. This video makes up for that. It shows Michael Wright's working model of the Antikythera mechanism. I defy you not to be amazed.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eUibFQKJqI

[BacktoBasics]

The large scope of what the mechanism displays is fucking amazing. They simply don't make them like they used to. I'm absolutely facinated by the machine and have been since I first read about it.

[DarkReign]

I seen a History channel special on this device (or was it Discovery?).

Absolutely amazing. The engineering and precision to even make this in that time is amazing enough. The computations it performs (or is purpoarted to perform) is just like an added bonus to the imagination.

When Rome burned the Library of Alexandria, I dont think they had any idea what the implications would be and how far it set humanity back. Hubris at its finest with Rome thinking they would last forever and therefore had no need of the whole of humanity's scientific and philosophical works.

I realize the events surrounding the destruction (or multiple) are very much contentious, but it would seem by accident or malice, Rome was responsible for bringing (Greek-ish)civilization and science to the barbarians (our ancestors) but were also semi-responsible for the delay of advancement in all of Europe and could even be linked to the Dark Ages as their inevitable collapse and subsequent destruction lost countless sciences to only be rediscovered thousands of years later.

Truly amazing.

[Wild Cobra]

Nice toy.

Will it be ready for Christmas?

[Salad Tosser]

And they didn't need 40 Billion NASA dollars to make it work. :tu

[I. Hustle]

I wonder if that's how they looked at porn