Ancient Calculator Found
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The front face of a model replica of an ancient astronomical calculator, known as the Antikythera Mechanism, is seen at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Experts from Britain, Greece and the United States say they have found evidence that the ancient device was also used to track dates of the ancient Olympic Games.
(AP Photo/Losmi Chobi)
(ATHENS, Greece)
Experts from Britain, Greece and the United States said they have detected the word "Olympia" on a bronze dial, as well as the names of other games in ancient Greece on the device known as the Antikythera Mechanism.
Their findings will be reported Thursday in the British science journal Nature.
The 2,100-year-old Antikythera Mechanism was recovered from an ancient shipwreck in 1901 near Antikythera, a small island off Greece's south coast.
Its insides look like a clock. About 30 bronze gears were cranked to calculate phases of the moon, eclipses and other celestial information specific to a certain date. Results were displayed on dials on the front and back of the mechanism.
Most workings of the device only came to light with recent advances in scanning technology and computer processing power.
microcosm illustrating the temporal harmonization of human and divine order."
In a second new find, also reported in Nature on Thursday, Bitsakis and fellow researchers found that month names etched onto the Antikythera Mechanism were consistent with ones used in Corinthian colonies in Sicily. This provides the first possible link with the Greek mathematician Archimedes, who died there about 100 years before the device was built, Bitsakis said.
"This is an interesting - not direct link but possible link - with the town where Archimedes used to work. It is the first link of this kind," he said.
With the powerful 3-D scanner, built by the British-based X-Tek Systems, scientists can peer into razor-thin sections of the device's 80-odd surviving fragments to understand its mechanics and read hundreds of tiny Greek inscriptions etched onto its bronze components.
Information was also gleaned from a technique developed by U.S.-based Hewlett-Packard Co. which made composite images of high-resolution digital photographs taken of the mechanism fragments under varied lighting conditions.
Bitsakis said improved computing power, used to analyze existing scans and images, made the latest discovery possible.
"The inscriptions are in very faint layers, like one-tenth of a millimeter in depth, and the letters are 1 millimeter high, so it's almost nothing," he said.
"(We had better) memory processing power and more powerful graphic cards ... Without this we couldn't see the inscription because you have to increase the resolution and the result is a very big file," he said.
The ongoing research project into the Antikythera Mechanism is being led by Mike Edmunds, professor of astrophysics, and his colleagues at Cardiff University in Britain.
Radiograph of Mechanical Brass Calculator
A radiograph of a mechanical brass calculator, made at the end of the 2nd century BC, retrieved from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901 is seen in an undated image. The calculator, used by the ancient Greeks to predict solar and lunar eclipses, was probably also used to set the dates for the first Olympic games, researchers said on Wednesday.
Model Replica of an Ancient Astronomical Calculator
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Amazon Price: $25.00 (as of 05/25/2012)
Grade 5-8-Because more information has survived about Archimedes's contributions than about his life, most of this book wisely focuses on his mathematical observations 22 centuries ago. Descriptions of Syracuse and Alexandria, cities that influenced his social and educational development, introduce readers to ancient Greek society and give them a fuller understanding of the importance of Archimedes's discoveries. The next chapters describe the significance of his work regarding levers, buoyancy, geometry, and pi; and of such inventions as the pulley and Archimedes's screw. The legendary Eureka! moment involving the metallic composition of the king's crown and a chapter devoted to the man's fondness for mathematical puzzles enliven text, which is composed mainly of short, declarative sentences. Footnotes are appropriately referenced, and citations from primary sources include the writings of Plutarch and Cicero. Differentiation is made between factually recorded accounts and those attributed to legend. Good-quality, black-and-white illustrations add information to the clear text, which is presented in large font. Three activities encourage student inquiry. With few other titles available for this audience, this entry in the series could be especially useful for students requesting books about ancient history or mathematicians.-Julie R. Ranelli, Episcopal Center for Children, Washington, DC
Archimedes
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Product Description
This is a book about the life and work of Archimedes, the Greek mathemetician, a book designed particularly for students in home school situations but interesting for any young reader.
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Humanitys hunt for calculating devices probably started with the use of small pebbles to keep track of numbers. The counting inventions progressed through the abacus, early mechanical calculators, and other ingenious devices culminating in todays computers. In this new book, Thomas Russo chronicles 600 years of caculating devices, providing valuable information for historians and collectors alike. Stretching from ancient times to the earliest computers, this book provides an insight into breadth and depth of human creativity and drive. With 500 color photographs, descriptive captions, and a guide to current values, this is an essential guide in a field that is finding ever more enthusiasts.
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This introductory calculus text was developed by the author through his teaching of an honors calculus course at Notre Dame. The book develops calculus, as well as the necessary trigonometry and analytic geometry, from witin the relevant historical context, and yet it is not a textbook in the history of mathematics as such. The notation is modern, and the material is selected to cover the basics of the subject. Special emphasis is placed on pedagogy throughout. Whhile emphasizing the broad applications of the subject, emphasis is placed on the mathematical content of the subject.
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From Publishers Weekly
Science journalist Teresi (coauthor of The God Particle) has combed the literature to catalogue the scientific advances made by early non-Western societies and to determine their impact on Western science. His work spans millennia and encompasses the full extent of the globe. He points out, for example, that five millennia ago the Sumerians concluded that the earth was round. He also provides information on cultures of the Middle East, India, China, Africa and Oceania, as well as a host of New World cultures, predominately those of Mesoamerica. Throughout, readers learn that scientific knowledge of various sorts in diverse forms has been a part of all cultures. In chapters on mathematics, astronomy, cosmology, physics, geology, chemistry and technology, Teresi makes a convincing argument that Western science has often been indebted to advances made elsewhere (mineralogy was studied in Africa as early as 5000 B.C.). Teresi is at his strongest in the section on mathematics, where he discusses the evolution of Arabic numerals from the ancient Indians and the earliest conceptualizations of zero and infinity. Much less compelling are his assertions that early societies foreshadowed the ideas of quantum mechanics. Although a bit uneven, Teresi offers a great deal of fascinating material largely ignored by many histories of science.
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King Arthur and the Holy Grail, the lost tomb of Alexander the Great, ancient scripts, and the story of Atlantis: the human past is full of unsolved mysteries. The Seventy Great Mysteries of the Ancient World draws on modern science and the latest research to explore some of archaeology's most baffling controversies and enigmas, from our origins and evolution to the mysterious collapse of once-powerful civilizations. Leading authorities discuss the key questions, beginning with the truth behind myths and legends. Was there ever a Garden of Eden? Did the flood in Genesis actually occur? What became of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel? And what is the significance of the Aboriginal Dreamtime? The book then examines mysteries of the Stone Age: the beginnings of language, the fate of the Neanderthals, and the meaning of cave paintings. The enigma of the European megaliths is addressed, and the question of whether there was ever a mother goddess cult. The ancient civilizations present equally fascinating puzzles: were the Egyptians black Africans, and how did Tutankhamun die? And mysteries are found in all parts of the globe: did the Olmecs originate in Africa, were the Bog People of northern Europe murder victims, why did the Incas sacrifice children, and what was the purpose of the world-famous Nazca lines? The book pays close attention to puzzling sepulchers like Tomb 55 in Egypt's Valley of the Kings-possibly the pharaoh Akhenaten's burial place-and to undeciphered scripts, from Cretan Linear A to Etruscan, runes, and rongorongo. Finally, it examines the controversies surrounding the collapse of such civilizations as the Minoan, the Maya, and the Moche of lowland Peru. Packed with diagrams, photographs, plans, and maps, The Seventy Great Mysteries of the Ancient World is a unique guide to some of the most contentious issues of the human past, offering a completely up-to-date account of mysteries that fascinate us all. 431 illustrations, 177 in color.
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Did King Arthur really exist? Who was Robin Hood? How did the enormous stone heads of Easter Island find their way to their resting places? Why did the Mayans disappear? These are some of the 37 big questions tackled by James and Thorpe in nearly 700 pages. A few of their selections may seem curious when compared to the puzzles that have gripped us for centuries, but overall their penetrating analyses of legend and archaeological data are fascinating and engagingly written. For those who can tolerate a bit of uncertainty in their reading, Ancient Mysteries will be a profoundly satisfying look into the fuzzy boundaries of our knowledge. --Rob Lightner --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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ShushiDenMaster
May 28, 2009 @ 2:18 am | delete
- yes very interesting - I wonder if one day - if the planet goes though enough changes, and a possible alignment change that we will see the difference between a working Antikythera Mechanism and one that is not aligned. This way we can see how it works - or don't work - to create similar technology.
I feel the planet is in an 'extreme' vulnerable stage - where movement away from the sun - even by a weeks calculations is possible and measurement of this might be more noticeable with such ancient devices.
literally Earths clock might be broke for a while before it fixes itself again.
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jon9
Apr 1, 2009 @ 3:44 pm | delete
- Very interesting lens I have a small section on the Antikythera Mechanism on my lens Strange Ancient Artifacts
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Twmarsh
Sep 27, 2008 @ 7:20 pm | delete
- I just saw a television documentary about the ancient calculator. Gteat topic, five stars!
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Index of Contents
- Radiograph of Mechanical Brass Calculator
- Model Replica of an Ancient Astronomical Calculator
- Mathamatical Genius~Archimedes
- Archimedes
- Antikythera Calculator
- Solar Scientific Calculator
- Antique Office Machines
- Basic Calculus
- The Greek Qabalah
- Human Calculator?
- Ancient Discoveries
- Ancient Mysteries
- Ancient Mysteries
- Ancient Stuff on eBay
- Trip to Athens
- Write Your Comments Here in My Guest Book
- More Unusual Lenses
- Great Lensmasters to Check Out
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