[SCC_Active_Members] The Antikythira Machine: ancient Greekcomputer

[Doron Swade]

Hello. There is a new analysis of the Antikythera mechanism by Michael
Wright, formerly of the Science Museum in London, now a free-lance
mechanician. Using tomography techniques to 'see' otherwise hidden
information in the surviving relic he has advanced understanding of how it
may have worked and what it was likely to have been used for. He has also
built a working reconstruction incorporating his findings. A non-technical
report appeared in the Economist in 2002 and can be found at
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1337165. I am in touch
with Michael should anyone want more detail. I believe the work on the
Antikythera mechanism is ongoing - it was a few months ago.

 

Best wishes

Doron

 

Doron D. Swade (Dr)
(PhD, MSc, C.Eng, FBCS, CITP)
Visiting Professor (Interaction Design) 
   Royal College of Art
Visiting Professor (Computer Science)
   University of Portsmouth

54 Park Road
Kingston upon Thames
Surrey KT2 6AU

Tel:        0208 392 0072
Mobile:  07973 122 666
Email:   doron.swade at blueyonder.co.uk

  

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From: scc_active-bounces at computerhistory.org
[mailto:scc_active-bounces at computerhistory.org] On Behalf Of Gust, Kathe
Sent: 12 December 2005 17:09
To: H.M. Gladney; SCC at CHM
Subject: RE: [SCC_Active_Members] The Antikythira Machine: ancient
Greekcomputer

 

Hello Henry -

 

I knew about the existence of the mechanism, but when I first read about it
no one had yet figured out what it was for.  It was assumed

to be some type of navigational instrument (which perhaps it is) but was not
restored enough to make a guess at how it worked.  That

was 30 or so years ago.  It shows up in National Geographic from time to
time in articles on excavations at Thera since it makes for 

a nice photo of something more unusual than marble statuary and ruins.  The
existence of the mechanism in conjunction with a major

volcanic eruption is one of the reasons some people think Thera was the
original "Atlantis" in the old stories

 

Kathe

 

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From: scc_active-bounces at computerhistory.org
[mailto:scc_active-bounces at computerhistory.org] On Behalf Of H.M. Gladney
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2005 7:53 PM
To: SCC at CHM
Subject: [SCC_Active_Members] The Antikythira Machine: ancient Greek
computer

Sometimes we even learn something new from "the idiot box."  New to me, at
least, and potentially of CHM interest.  Possibly known to most listeners on
this list-serve.  In case you did not see the program today on the History
Channel, there follows some material dredged up after we saw it.

 

Apparently the ancient Greeks had a machine that anticipated and outdid the
Babbage machine, although the Greek version was exclusively geared for
astronomical calculations.  Called the Antikithira Machine (after the
village in whose harbor its remains were discovered in 1901), it is
described in the attached MS Word file and in Web pages that you can link
from that.

 

I am curious--had any CHM worker known of this machine, and is there
anything in the collection about it?

 

Best wishes, Henry

 

H.M. Gladney, Ph.D.      <http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/>
http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/    HMG Consulting

 

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