APOD: The Antikythera Mechanism (2023 Jul 23)

[APOD Robot]

The Antikythera Mechanism

Explanation: It does what? No one knew that 2,000 years ago, the technology existed to build such a device. The Antikythera mechanism, pictured, is now widely regarded as the first computer. Found at the bottom of the sea aboard a decaying Greek ship, its complexity prompted decades of study, and even today some of its functions likely remain unknown. X-ray images of the device, however, have confirmed that a main function of its numerous clock-like wheels and gears is to create a portable, hand-cranked, Earth-centered, orrery of the sky, predicting future star and planet locations as well as lunar and solar eclipses. The corroded core of the Antikythera mechanism's largest gear is featured, spanning about 13 centimeters, while the entire mechanism was 33 centimeters high, making it similar in size to a large book. Recently, modern computer modeling of missing components is allowing for the creation of a more complete replica of this surprising ancient machine.

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[RocketRon]

Fascinating mechanism !

See also Astrolabes ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrolabe

[Astronymus]

It's unimaginable how much knowledge and progress was lost through the ages by religious fanatics destroying libraries and people.

[JohnD]

Anyone seen the new Indiana Jones movie? "Dial of Destiny"?

It features Indy searching for the said Dial - which is the Antikythera Mechanism!!! Except in this reality it was recovered from the sea bed "encased in wax", wholly uncorroded and - who knew? - when reunited with its' other half detects "time fissures" that enable time travel. (yeah, yeah, yawn) Ironically, the films opening is set in WW2, with an AI-generated youthful Harrison Ford as Indy. Regaining his self respect, he plays his actual age in the modern part, although he still wields a mean right uppercut!

All the usual Indy tropes are present, and the film passes an entertaining hour or so, but it has to be said, it does feel a little as if it was going through the Old Routine. Except for the gorgeous and astonishing Ms.Phoebe Waller-Bridge of "Fleabag", who portrays a thoroughly modern villain/hero, amoral, but with a kind heart!

John

[Judy]

My husband and I made a once in a lifetime to Greece in the 1980s. In the Athens museum we saw the Antikythera lying i a display case, looking just as it does in today's picture, with a card saying what it was called, where it was found, and that no one knew what it was. I have followed the stories of its analysis and the copy that was made of it. If you can find the TV program on how it was x-rayed, I found that fascinating. I'll challenge another poster by noting that many researchers who know a lot more about this time period than either of us do say that the Antikythera was almost certainly developed to predict heavenly movements in service of religion. And, that it does not seem to have been damaged in war. Human culture has lost a lot of stuff in war, and as we have produced too much information to consume, lots in clutter. And now even more to digital perishing. A kudo to the Internet Archive and the Wayback machine, where I have found a number of precious publications.

[Astronymus]

This one was indeed lost at sea. That probably saved it from being destroyed as heathen magic.

[johnnydeep]

I thought the sonnet at one of the links was rather well constructed, much like its eponymous toponymous mechanism (hmm, I fear I must be misusing one or both of those terms, but I'm trying to succinctly state that the sonnet is named after the device, while the device is named after the island):

The Antikythera Sonnet
June 22, 2016

Fractured at thirty fathoms down it lies,
By octopus and clam uncomprehended,
A brazen image of Hellenic skies,
The simulated flow of time suspended.

Athenian's year by Cyzicene amended,
The Babylonian's Suns blood red and black,
Mechanic's art with mathematics blended,
Aigila's dark abyss holds all in wrack.

The planets' globuled pointers and their stack
Of tight-spaced toothed disks revolve no more,
The densely lettered plates corrode and crack,
Muted the ancient Rhodian's astral lore.

Two thousand years the greening fragments sleep,
Imagination's spacecraft in the deep.

The author wishes to remain anonymous.

[orin stepanek]

Wow! A computer before our time; man still isn't responsible enough to use it!

[Cousin Ricky]

Regaining his self respect, [Harrison Ford] plays his actual age in the modern part, although he still wields a mean right uppercut!

Not as mean as his goddaughter’s.

[Supernovice]

"...is now widely regarded as the first computer." This is silly. There is no way something so sophisticated as the Antikythera mechanism just emerged as a one-off from someone's workshop. There must have been precursors ... it's just that we haven't found any. Yet.

[Chris Peterson]

"...is now widely regarded as the first computer." This is silly. There is no way something so sophisticated as the Antikythera mechanism just emerged as a one-off from someone's workshop. There must have been precursors ... it's just that we haven't found any. Yet.

The wording used in the Wikipedia article is "oldest known example of an analogue computer" which seems much more reasonable.