[SCC_Active_Members] The Antikythira Machine: ancientGreekcomputer

[James McClure]

Dr. Swade, et al. - 

Am I right in understanding that this fascinating oojah would have been an analog device similar in function ( if not in external form ) to an orrery, and not "programmable?"  It sounds as if it might have solved an arbitrary problem by "passing through" all of the available gearbox configurations between a starting configuration that illustrated the relationships of the planets at some arbitrary time and the configuration illustrating the relationships of the planets at the time of interest.  Is that how others understand it?  

Cheers

Jim McClure
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Doron Swade 
  To: 'Gust, Kathe' ; 'H.M. Gladney' ; 'SCC at CHM' 
  Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 11:38 AM
  Subject: RE: [SCC_Active_Members] The Antikythira Machine: ancientGreekcomputer


  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/    HMG Consulting

   



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