[SCC_Active_Members] The Antikythira Machine: ancientGreekcomputer

Mon Dec 12 14:47:36 PST 2005

Thanks for the extra information.  It sounds like a wonderful artifact - both as an example of mechanical construction and because of the astronomical data and analysis that it embodies.  

Thanks to all for sharing about this.  

Cheers

Jim McClure
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Doron Swade 
  To: 'James McClure' ; 'SCC at CHM' ; 'H.M. Gladney' ; 'Gust, Kathe' 
  Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 1:34 PM
  Subject: RE: [SCC_Active_Members] The Antikythira Machine: ancientGreekcomputer

  Yup. My understanding tallies i.e. that the device was intended to model the known planetary universe so as to predict the position of the sun and planets on any given date. If this is correct the gear ratios would be fixed and the device would not have been programmable. In present-day terms it would be an analog calculator.

  All best

  Doron

  Doron D. Swade 

  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: James McClure [mailto:jamesmcclure at comcast.net] 
  Sent: 12 December 2005 20:25
  To: 'SCC at CHM'; 'H.M. Gladney'; 'Gust, Kathe'; Doron Swade
  Subject: Re: [SCC_Active_Members] The Antikythira Machine: ancientGreekcomputer

  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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