Wow! This is amazing!

[Kindred Spirit]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2010/dec/10/1?INTCMP=SRCH

Hello All!
It has been a while since I last signed on but I found this today and knew there would be someone interested in this historic find and the story about making it work. I love history, and history of astronomy especially. For me it helps to make sence of the new stuff!
Cheers from windy, wet and wild Tasmania. :hi:

[Jen]

:eyepop: WOW How cool is that, wouldnt that be awsome to add to your lego collection ;)

[Kindred Spirit]

Hi Jen!
Yup! I had Lego as a kid, I think Dad wanted a boy!
The Antikythera mechanism has facinated me for ages. I'm glad the purpose has been discovered. To make it out of Lego...well who would have connected the two?!! Anything else out there on the web or in media generally that is like this discovery, please post it here, I'd love to hear about it!

[erick]

I could only build houses from the lego I had! Thanks for the link, Luise!

[Terry B]

Very clever. Here is another thing made with lego
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX09WnGU6ZY

[Kindred Spirit]

If my printer breaks down...hmm, maybe not. I only made houses with my Lego too!

[CraigS]

Luise;

Absolutely astounding !!

Overwhelming !!

It took about 2000 years to find it, 110 years to work out what it was meant to do. One just can't help but wonder how long it took to make it.

They didn't say what it was made from, but I gather it is some kind of corrosion resistant metal. The manufacture and engineering of the wheels, and rest of the mechanism must have required extreme precision for that era.

John Harrison built his first clock in 1713, (20 years old), and was finally awarded his prize by the Board of Longitude in 1765 - 1773, (72 yrs - 80 yrs old). It took his whole life to finally be recognised, but it also took most of that time to eliminate the imprecision associated with seafaring, and the basic imprecision of the materials he had at the time.

And yet the Greeks who made this thing were working along similar lines (as far as goals were concerned), almost 800 years before him !

Truly awesome !!
Luise .. thank you so much for that contribution !!

It's made my day/week. Fantastic !
:)

Cheers & Rgds

[Kindred Spirit]

I've read Dava Sobel's "Longitude". It must have been an amazing time of discovery and emerging science. In one comment I read about my post..."The Greeks peaked early..."
The thin thread to Archimedes is very intriging! Oh if only old things could talk...

[CraigS]

We had a little fun about Archimedes in this thread (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=626501&highlight=archimedes#post626501), but the point was made that this guy is one of the all time great mathematicians, as far as contributions to science goes.

The thought that he may have been indirectly responsible for this mechanism is simply mind-boggling, given all of the other things he accomplished in his lifetime!

Even if his students developed this mechanism, his greatness as a practical scientist has descended through the ages, and he continues to stun us all !!

Cheers

[Kindred Spirit]

Agreed! Archimedes was a cool dude!

[CraigS]

Hi Luise;

Francis Abbott, one of or own early astronomers down there - in Tassie, .. was also making some pretty neat clocks (around 1844).

There was also a thread about this (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=66552&highlight=Abbott) here a while ago.

Cheers

[Kindred Spirit]

Wow! Thanks for this! I will look into it and post what else I find when next in Hobart. Won't be until after Christmas though:xmas:
Cheers, Luise.

[multiweb]

Very cool. I'm always amazed when people engineer something that actually computes something without any software. That's the ultimate simplicity. Very elegant and thought through.