The Antikythera Computing Device

[Alkman]

The Antikythera Computer

[Savage]

Researchers find hidden Greek text on 'world's oldest astronomy computer' Source


Foto fra forskningsprosjektet/Universitet i Athen og University of Cardiff

The size of a shoebox, a mysterious bronze device scooped out of a Roman-era shipwreck at the dawn of the 20th century has baffled scientists for years. Now a British researcher has stunningly established it as the world's oldest surviving astronomy computer.


A team of Greek and British scientists probing the secrets of the Antikythera Mechanism has managed to decipher ancient Greek inscriptions unseen for over 2,000 years, members of the project say.

"Part of the text on the machine, over 1,000 characters, had already been deciphered, but we have succeeded in doubling this total," said physician Yiannis Bitsakis, part of a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from universities in Athens, Salonika and Cardiff, the Athens National Archaeological Museum and the Hewlett-Packard company.

"We have now deciphered 95 percent of the text," he told AFP.

Scooped out of a Roman shipwreck located in 1900 by sponge divers near the southern Greek island of Antikythera, and kept at the Athens National Archaeological Museum, the Mechanism contains over 30 bronze wheels and dials, and is covered in astronomical inscriptions.

Probably operated by crank, it survives in three main pieces and some smaller fragments.

"(The device) could calculate the position of certain stars, at least the Sun and Moon, and perhaps predict astronomical phenomena," said astrophysicist Xenophon Moussas of Athens University.

"It was probably rare, if not unique," he added.

The rarity of the Antikythera Mechanism precluded its removal from the museum, so an eight-tonne 'body scanner' had to be assembled on-site for the privately-funded project, which used three-dimensional tomography to expose the unseen inscriptions.

The first appraisal of the Mechanism's purpose was put forward in the 1960s by British science historian Derek Price, but the scientists' latest discovery raises more questions.


"It is a puzzle concerning astronomical and mathematical knowledge in antiquity," said Moussas. "The Mechanism could actually rewrite certain chapters in this area."

"The challenge is to place this device into a scientific context, as it comes almost out of nowhere... and flies in the face of established theory that considers the ancient Greeks were lacking in applied technical knowledge," adds Bitsakis, also of Athens University.

The researchers are also looking at the broader remains of the Roman ship -- believed to have sunk around 80 BC -- for clues to the Mechanism's origin.

One theory under examination is that the device was created in an academy founded by the ancient Stoic philosopher Poseidonios on the Greek island of Rhodes.

The writings of 1st-century AD Roman orator and philosopher Cicero -- himself a former student of Poseidonios -- cite a device with similarities to the Mechanism.

"Like Alexandria, Rhodes was a great centre of astronomy at the time," said Moussas. "The boat where the device was discovered could have been part of a convoy to Rome, bearing treasure looted from the island for the purpose of a triumph parade staged by Julius Caesar."

The new findings are to be discussed at an international congress (www.antikythera-mechanism.gr) scheduled to be held in Athens in November.

Google search on Antikythera Mechanism

© 2006 AFP

[Strengthandhonour]

Ancient Astronomical Device Technologically Ahead of Its Time

By Robin Turner and Paul Carey
AP
11/30/06 9:21 AM PT
As early as the second century BC, Greeks were able to calculate the positions of the sun, moon and planets using an astronomical computer that incorporated technology thought to be developed at least 1,000 years later. Scientists unraveled the artifact's internal mysteries by examining it with a complex medical scanning device.
An international team led by Cardiff University professor Mike Edmunds has unraveled the secrets of a 2,000-year-old computer that ancient Greeks used to plot the movements of the sun, moon and the stars.
Known as the "Antikythera Mechanism," after the place where it was found -- and said to be more valuable than the Mona Lisa -- it contains 18th century technology, even though it has been dated to 80 BC.




Astronomy expert Edmunds and his team found the device, a bronze calculator, used differential gears previously thought to have been invented in the 16th century.
The ancient artifact uses technology more akin to 18th century clocks than anything thought to have existed in the ancient world.
There is speculation the mechanism may have been built by the celebrated Greek mathematician Archimedes.
Sunken Treasure

The mystery began in May 1902, when Greek sponge diver Elias Stadiatos plunged 120 feet into the sparkling blue waters off the Island of Antikythera between Crete and Kythera, the legendary home of the Goddess of love, Aphrodite.
He found the lost wreck of a Roman ship and its treasures stolen from Greece intended for a triumphant display being planned by Julius Caesar.
Among the sunken hoard were the fragmented remains of the Antikythera Mechanism, which scientists soon marveled over.
Decades of puzzling over the mechanism's 2,000 characters of ancient Greek text and its astonishingly advanced gearing have come to an end today.
In a major conference in Greece, Edmunds and his team, including Cardiff colleague Dr. Tony Freeth, explained how they used x-ray technology to finally establish how the complex differential gearings gave ancient Greeks knowledge of eclipses and the movement across the sky of the sun, moon and planets.
Originally mounted on wood, the sophisticated device would have given the Greeks precise information on planning agricultural activity and religious festivals, the movement of the planets, and prediction of phenomena like solar and lunar eclipses.
It was so advanced it even allowed the Greeks to plot the irregular movement of the moon through the sky.
No other civilization is known to have created anything as complicated for another 1,000 years.
Ancient Sophistication

Edmunds, speaking from Greece on Wednesday, said, "This device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind. The design is beautiful, the astronomy is exactly right.
"The way the mechanics are designed just makes your jaw drop. Whoever has done this has done it extremely well."
The team was made up of researchers from Cardiff, the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, and the Universities of Athens and Thessaloniki, supported by a substantial grant from the Leverhulme Trust.
They were aided by Hertfordshire X-Tek, which developed powerful x-ray computer technology to help them study the corroded fragments of the machine. Computer giant provided imaging technology to enhance the surface details of the machine.
The mechanism is in more than 80 pieces and stored in precisely controlled conditions in Athens, where it cannot be touched.
"Recreating its workings was a difficult, painstaking process, involving astronomers, mathematicians, computer experts, script analysts and conservation experts," Edmunds said.
The team's research is being published in the journal Nature.
"It does raise the question, 'What else were they making at the time?' In terms of historic and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona Lisa," Edmunds added.
How It Worked

The Greek device used 30 hand-cut differential gears fashioned from bronze. Historians think it might have been constructed by the stoic philosopher Posidonius, who masterminded an ancient astronomy center at Rhodes. Others believe the complex mathematics behind the calculator are evidence that Archimedes may have been behind it.
The device was around 13 inches high, six inches wide and three inches thick and set on a wooden plinth.
It is thought likely the device was being transported to Rome after the Roman general Sulla defeated Mithradites and ordered the burning of Athens, when the ship carrying it sank.
The device used a differential gear previously believed to have been invented in the 16th century, and it is remarkable for the level of miniaturization and the complexity of its parts, which is comparable to that of 18th century clocks.
It had a differential gear arrangement and the gears meshed with teeth formed through equilateral triangles. When past or future dates were entered via a crank -- now lost -- the mechanism calculated the position of the sun, moon or other astronomical information, such as the location of other planets.

source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/54489.html

[Erasmus]

Early Astronomical ‘Computer’ Found to Be Technically Complex


By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Published: November 30, 2006
A computer in antiquity would seem to be an anachronism, like Athena ordering takeout on her cellphone.

But a century ago, pieces of a strange mechanism with bronze gears and dials were recovered from an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Greece. Historians of science concluded that this was an instrument that calculated and illustrated astronomical information, particularly phases of the Moon and planetary motions, in the second century B.C.
The instrument, the Antikythera Mechanism, sometimes called the world’s first computer, has now been examined with the latest in high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography. A team of British, Greek and American researchers deciphered inscriptions and reconstructed the gear functions, revealing “an unexpected degree of technical sophistication for the period,” it said.
The researchers, led by the mathematician and filmmaker Tony Freeth and the astronomer Mike G. Edmunds, both of the University of Cardiff, Wales, are reporting their results today in the journal Nature.
They said their findings showed that the inscriptions related to lunar-solar motions, and the gears were a representation of the irregularities of the Moon’s orbital course, as theorized by the astronomer Hipparchos. They established the date of the mechanism at 150-100 B.C.
The Roman ship carrying the artifacts sank off the island of Antikythera about 65 B.C. Some evidence suggests it had sailed from Rhodes. The researchers said that Hipparchos, who lived on Rhodes, might have had a hand in designing the device.
In another Nature article, a scholar not involved in the research, François Charette of the University of Munich museum, in Germany, said the new interpretation of the mechanism “is highly seductive and convincing in all of its details.” It is not the last word, he said, “but it does provide a new standard, and a wealth of fresh data, for future research.”
Technology historians say the instrument is technically more complex than any known for at least a millennium afterward. Earlier examinations of the instrument, mainly in the 1970s by Derek J. de Solla Price, a Yale historian who died in 1983, led to similar findings, but they were generally disputed or ignored.
The hand-operated mechanism, presumably used in preparing calendars for planting and harvesting and fixing religious festivals, had at least 30, possibly 37, hand-cut bronze gear-wheels, the researchers said. A pin-and-slot device connecting two gear-wheels induced variations in the representation of lunar motions according to the Hipparchos model of the Moon’s elliptical orbit around Earth.
The numbers of teeth in the gears dictated the functions of the mechanism. The 53-tooth count of certain gears, the team said, was “powerful confirmation of our proposed model of Hipparchos’ lunar theory.” The detailed imaging revealed more than twice the inscriptions recognized earlier. Some of these appeared to relate to planetary and lunar motions. Perhaps, the team said, the mechanism also had gearings to predict the positions of known planets.
Dr. Charette noted that more than 1,000 years elapsed before instruments of such complexity are known to have re-emerged. A few artifacts and some Arabic texts suggest that simpler geared calendrical devices had existed, particularly in Baghdad around A.D. 900.
It seems clear, he said, that “much of the mind-boggling technological sophistication available in some parts of the Hellenistic and Greco-Roman world was simply not transmitted further.”
“The gear-wheel, in this case,” he added, “had to be reinvented.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/sc...html?th&emc=th

Related link:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...ture05357.html

[Strengthandhonour]

I had posted something regarding the topic yesterday. Topics merged.

[Kernunnos]

There are serious historians of mathematics who mantain that Greeks had already invented either the galileian method as well as what we today call algebra, but by geometrical methods.

This just adds another piece to the puzzle tat could dispel the myth of arab science being a primate as well as being pivotal for Europe and mankind's advancements.

They just worked on top of the greek and roman era achievements, and their theologians very swiftly cut short any philosophical discussion that could lead to the rebirth of real science.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Breha

This just adds another piece to the puzzle tat could dispel the myth of arab science being a primate as well as being pivotal for Europe and mankind's advancements.

They just worked on top of the greek and roman era achievements, and their theologians very swiftly cut short any philosophical discussion that could lead to the rebirth of real science.

And on Persian achievements too.

[Strengthandhonour]

update on this it seems

Ancient Moon 'computer' revisited
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

The delicate workings at the heart of a 2,000-year-old analogue computer have been revealed by scientists. The Antikythera Mechanism, discovered more than 100 years ago in a Roman shipwreck, was used by ancient Greeks to display astronomical cycles.
Using advanced imaging techniques, an Anglo-Greek team probed the remaining fragments of the complex geared device.
The results, published in the journal Nature, show it could have been used to predict solar and lunar eclipses.
The elaborate arrangement of bronze gears may also have displayed planetary information.
"This is as important for technology as the Acropolis is for architecture," said Professor John Seiradakis of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, and one of the team. "It is a unique device."
However, not all experts agree with the team's interpretation of the mechanism.
Technical complexity
The remains of the device were first discovered in 1902 when archaeologist Valerios Stais noticed a heavily corroded gear wheel amongst artefacts recovered by sponge divers from a sunken Roman cargo ship.

A further 81 fragments have since been found containing a total of 30 hand-cut bronze gears. The largest fragment has 27 cogs.
Researchers believe these would have been housed in a rectangular wooden frame with two doors, covered in instructions for its use. The complete calculator would have been driven by a hand crank.
Although its origins are uncertain, the new studies of the inscriptions suggest it would have been constructed around 100-150 BC, long before such devices appear in other parts of the world.
Writing in Nature, the team says that the mechanism was "technically more complex than any known device for at least a millennium afterwards".
Although much of it is now lost, particularly from the front, what remains has given a century's worth of researchers a tantalising glimpse into the world of ancient Greek astronomy.
One of the most comprehensive studies was done by British science historian Derek Solla Price, who advanced the theory that the device was used to calculate and display celestial information.


When you see it your jaw just drops and you think, 'bloody hell that's clever'
Mike Edmunds
Cardiff University
This would have been important for timing agricultural and religious festivals. Some researchers now also believe that it could have been used for teaching or navigation.
Although Solla Price's work did much to push forward the state of knowledge about the device's functions, his interpretation of the mechanics is now largely dismissed.
A reinterpretation of the fragments by Michael Wright of Imperial College London between 2002 and 2005, for example, developed an entirely different assembly for the gears.
The new work builds on this legacy.
Eclipse function
Using bespoke non-invasive imaging systems, such as three-dimensional X-ray microfocus computed tomography, the team was able to take detailed pictures of the device and uncover new information.
The major structure they describe, like earlier studies, had a single, centrally placed dial on the front plate that showed the Greek zodiac and an Egyptian calendar on concentric scales.


IMAGING TECHNIQUES
1.Three dimensional X-ray microfocus computed tomography: Developed by X-Tek Systems and similar to medical CAT scans, it allowed 3D images of the fragments to be reconstructed. Crucial for reading text hidden by centuries of corrosion.
2.Digital optical imaging using polynomial texture mapping: Developed by Hewlett Packard, a new method for increasing the photorealism of surface textures in digital pictures. Revealed faint surface details.
3.Digitised conventional film photography: High-quality images allowed the fragments to be studied without being handled.

On the back, two further dials displayed information about the timing of lunar cycles and eclipse patterns. Previously, the idea that the mechanism could predict eclipses had only been a hypothesis.
Other aspects are less certain, such as the exact number of cogs that would have been in the complete device. The new research suggests 37 gears could have been used.
However, what is left gives an insight into the complexity of the information the mechanism could display.
For example, the Moon sometimes moves slightly faster in the sky than at others because of the satellite's elliptic orbit.
To overcome this, the designer of the calculator used a "pin-and-slot" mechanism to connect two gear-wheels that introduced the necessary variations.
"When you see it your jaw just drops and you think: 'bloody hell, that's clever'. It's a brilliant technical design," said Professor Mike Edmunds.
Planetary display
The team was also able to decipher more of the text on the mechanism, doubling the amount of text that can now be read.
Combined with analysis of the dials, the inscriptions hint at the possibility that the Antikythera Mechanism could have also displayed planetary motions.

"Inscriptions mention the word 'Venus' and the word 'stationary' which would tend to suggest that it was looking at retrogressions of planets," said Professor Edmunds.
"In my own view, it probably displayed Venus and Mercury, but some people suggest it may display many other planets."
One of those people is Michael Wright. His reconstruction of the device, with 72 gears, suggests it may have been an orrery that displayed the motions of the five known planets of the time.
"There is a feature on the front plate that could have made provision for a bearing with a spindle, that carried motion up to a mechanism used to model the planets of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn as well," he told the BBC News website.
"That's how I see it and my reconstruction shows it works well."
Intriguingly, Mr Wright also believes the device was not a one-off.
"The designer and maker of the device knew what they wanted to achieve and they did it expertly; they made no mistakes," he said.
"To do this, it can't have been very far from their everyday stock work."
The Antikythera Mechanism will be explored in an episode of Unearthing Mysteries on BBC Radio 4 on 12 December


source: BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Ancient Moon \'computer\' revisited

[Señor Malo]

Originally Posted by Breha

There are serious historians of mathematics who mantain that Greeks had already invented ... what we today call algebra, but by geometrical methods.

The less we owe to arabs, the better will be

[Kernunnos]

from Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C. - NYTimes.com

Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C.

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

After a closer examination of a surviving marvel of ancient Greek technology known as the Antikythera Mechanism, scientists have found that the device not only predicted solar eclipses but also organized the calendar in the four-year cycles of the Olympiad, forerunner of the modern Olympic Games. The new findings, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, also suggested that the mechanism’s concept originated in the colonies of Corinth, possibly Syracuse, on Sicily. The scientists said this implied a likely connection with Archimedes. Archimedes, who lived in Syracuse and died in 212 B.C., invented a planetarium calculating motions of the Moon and the known planets and wrote a lost manuscript on astronomical mechanisms. Some evidence had previously linked the complex device of gears and dials to the island of Rhodes and the astronomer Hipparchos, who had made a study of irregularities in the Moon’s orbital course. The Antikythera Mechanism, sometimes called the first analog computer, was recovered more than a century ago in the wreckage of a ship that sank off the tiny island of Antikythera, north of Crete. Earlier research showed that the device was probably built between 140 and 100 B.C. Only now, applying high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography, have experts been able to decipher inscriptions and reconstruct functions of the bronze gears on the mechanism. The latest research has revealed details of dials on the instrument’s back side, including the names of all 12 months of an ancient calendar. In the journal report, the team led by the mathematician and filmmaker Tony Freeth of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, in Cardiff, Wales, said the month names “are unexpectedly of Corinthian origin,” which suggested “a heritage going back to Archimedes.” No month names on what is called the Metonic calendar were previously known, the researchers noted. Such a calendar, as well as other knowledge displayed on the mechanism, illustrated the influence of Babylonian astronomy on the Greeks. The calendar was used by Babylonians from at least the early fifth century B.C. Dr. Freeth, who is also associated with Images First Ltd., in London, explained in an e-mail message that the Metonic calendar was designed to reconcile the lengths of the lunar month with the solar year. Twelve lunar months are about 11 days short of a year, but 235 lunar months fit well into 19 years. “From this it is possible to construct an artificial mathematical calendar that keeps in synchronization with both the sun and the moon,” Dr. Freeth said. The mechanism’s connection with the Corinthians was unexpected, the researchers said, because other cargo in the shipwreck appeared to be from the eastern Mediterranean, places like Kos, Rhodes and Pergamon. The months inscribed on the instrument, they wrote, are “practically a complete match” with those on calendars from Illyria and Epirus in northwestern Greece and with the island of Corfu. Seven months suggest a possible link with Syracuse. Inscriptions also showed that one of the instrument’s dials was used to record the timing of the pan-Hellenic games, a four-year cycle that was “a common framework for chronology” by the Greeks, the researchers said. “The mechanism still contains many mysteries,” Dr. Freeth said. Among the larger questions, scientists and historians said the place of the mechanism in the development of Greek technology remained poorly understood. Several references to similar instruments appear in classical literature, including Cicero’s description of one made by Archimedes. But this one, hauled out of the sea in 1901, is the sole surviving example.

[Marcus Marulus]

The Antikythera mechanism - documentary clip

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Antikythera Mechanism

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The Antikythera Mechanism (top to bottom version)

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Animation of Antikythera Mechanism

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