The Antikythera Mechanism is the earliest bronze geared device ever found. It's been more than two millennia (2200 years old!) since a large ship went down off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera, and more than a century since a sponge diver discovered the ship's valuable cargo, which included bronze and marble statues, pottery, and glass and silver vases. But only now have researchers deciphered one of the wreck's--and classical archaeology's--most enigmatic artifacts: a corroded collection of bronze and wood fragments known as the Antikythera Mechanism.
From early on, archaeologists identified pieces of inscribed gear wheels within the corroded lump, which led to the consensus that it was some sort of astronomical device.
But how exactly did it work, and for what had it been used? Could such a sophisticated device have been created more than 1,400 years before similar objects were known to exist anywhere else in the world? Currently, the multinational Antikythera Mechanism Research Project (AMRP), led by mathematician and filmmaker Tony Freeth, used innovative imaging technology to answer these questions.
Considered to be the oldest known mechanical calculator, the device was used to
track the movements of the moon and the sun (and possibly the planets around Earth) and to predict the dates of future eclipses. According to scientists, no earlier geared mechanism of any sort has ever been found. For my point of view, Greeks knew that the earth was rounded. They should have known the planets movements so most of the post-medieval discoveries were actually a rediscovery. This mechanism probably confirms the idea that Columbus had read or hears Greek tales (written about 1500 years ago) about the earth roundness and the existence of other continents. America perhaps? L.L.
More information at http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/2006/oct-dec/antikythera.html and http://www.archaeology.org/0703/abstracts/antikythera.html
1 comment:
The writer makes a very essential point. "...most of the post-medieval discoveries were actually a rediscory." Yes! very right indeed! The Greeks had proved that the Earth had spherical shape (Aristotle, "On Heavens"). Aristarchos of Samos "proved" that the Earth rotates around the Sun revolving around its axis, something that Copernicus knew as it is disclosed by his manuscript. And Eratosthenes had measured very accurately by an ingenious method the size of the Earth. He gave to equivalent of 40,000 Km for a great circle! The tantalizing question pops up! Why all the advances were erased and Humanity lost thousands of years of progress? I recommend Lucio Russo's "The Forgotten Revolution" for a partial answer to this question.
Post a Comment