2000 Year Old Astronomical Computer has Scientists Perplexed
Cardiff University scientists in the UK are unravelling the secrets of a 2,000-year-old astronomical computer known as the Antikythera Mechanism. Their findings are transforming the way we think about the technical sophistication of the ancient world. The Antikythera Mechanism dates back to 80 BC and no civilization is known to have created anything as technologically complex as this device until at least a millennium later.
Comments:
There are some very good websites relating to this object. The one I like best is that showing animations of the various gear trains, especially the differential. I would have included some links but I think most Astromart users can figure it out.
Aloha,<br>try this one<br>http://www.etl.uom.gr/mr/index.php?mypage=640x480<br><br>Freddy
I don't quite know why this is such a surprize. The Greeks worked out geometry that we depend on to this day. That is, once it was rediscovered in Europe.<br><br>These things remind me of the Saturday Night Live skit where Steve Martin was a highly creative "advanced caveman", that was killed as he slept. I've no doubt that advances have always been thought of as too different to be understood, or accepted.<br><br>I once heard that, if not destroyed, the Greek civilization may have made it to space by the end of the first millenium.<br><br>David
<br>David:<br><br>You bring up a good point. I don't know if man could have made it into space by the end of the first millennium - that seems very ambitious.<br><br>However, if you could eliminate the thousand years of little to no scientific progress from 500AD (the approx. start of the Dark Ages) to 1500AD (the approx. start of the Renaissance), I'll bet man could have made it into space by 1500AD.<br><br>Guy Pirro<br><br>-----------------------------------------<br><br>David Joyce said:<br><br>I don't quite know why this is such a surprize. The Greeks worked out geometry that we depend on to this day. That is, once it was rediscovered in Europe.<br><br>These things remind me of the Saturday Night Live skit where Steve Martin was a highly creative "advanced caveman", that was killed as he slept. I've no doubt that advances have always been thought of as too different to be understood, or accepted.<br><br>I once heard that, if not destroyed, the Greek civilization may have made it to space by the end of the first millenium.<br><br>David
Of course, someone could have dropped it overboard a thousand years later and it floated to the bottom, landing on the wreck below. Just a thought.<br><br>Jim Phillips
Pythagoras theorized a heliocentric solar system in the 6th century BC. His teaching was forgotten as he couldn't prove it.<br><br>Four hundred years later Ptolemy and Hipparchus (200 to 100 BC) both postulated an earth centered solar system with circular orbits. They had measurements that proved their hypothesis. If this machine reflects Ptolemaic teachings it is inaccurate hence only one was produced and it's fame, if any, was short lived. This story sounds very much like a hoax.<br>
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