Posted 12/15/2010 09:11:00 PM by Douglas

Here it is fans of the Antikythera Mechanism. Here's one that's made out of Legos:

Labels: Antikythera Mechanism

Posted 1/10/2010 12:43:00 PM by Douglas

Researchers getting closer to figure out what in the hell the Antikythera machine was used for. I sure hope that the Olympics are involved.

Using nothing but an ingenious system of gears, the mechanism could be used to predict the month, day and hour of an eclipse, and even accounted for leap years. It could also predict the positions of the sun and moon against the zodiac, and has a gear train that turns a black and white stone to show the moon's phase on a given date. It is possible that it could also show the astronomical positions of the planets known to the ancients: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

The Antikythera mechanism wasn't just a scientific tool – it also had a social purpose. The Greeks held major athletic competitions (such as the Olympics) every two or four years. A small dial within the Metonic dial showed the dates of these important events.

After years of more research they're going to find out that it was used to predict the next American Idol winner.

Labels: Antikythera Mechanism

Posted 6/10/2006 05:16:00 PM by Douglas

More news on the world's oldest analytical computer, the Antikythera Mechanism.

For decades, researchers have been baffled by the intricate bronze mechanism of wheels and dials created 80 years before the birth of Christ.

The "Antikythera Mechanism" was discovered damaged and fragmented on the wreck of a cargo ship off the tiny Greek island of Antikythera in 1900.

Now, a joint British-Greek research team has found a hidden ancient Greek inscription on the device, which it thinks could unlock the mystery.

The team believes the Antikythera Mechanism may be the world's oldest computer, used by the Greeks to predict the motion of the planets.

The researchers say the device indicates a technical sophistication that would not be replicated for millennia and may also be based on principles of a heliocentric, or sun-centred, universe - a view of the cosmos that was not accepted by astronomers until the Renaissance.

It's pretty amazing to think that level of sophistication of machining was available at the time to create a device that could predict the location of the celestial bodies known at the time, not to mention in a heliocentric solar system. Looks like this asks more questions than it answers.

Labels: Antikythera Mechanism

Posted 8/20/2005 05:08:00 PM by Douglas

I'm gonna guess that you know very little about the history of the odometer, much less about the Antikythera mechanism, the world's first computer. (Roadtrip to Bozeman, anyone?)

Boy, this is really going to piss off Charles Babbage.

Labels: Antikythera Mechanism