[FOTZeiss] Fw: Surprising Sun Tracker in Ancient Greek Computer

[Glenn A. Walsh]

FYI

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
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--- On Wed, 4/6/11, LARRY KLAES <ljk4 at MSN.COM> wrote:

> From: LARRY KLAES <ljk4 at MSN.COM>
> Subject: Ancient Greek Computer Had Surprising Sun Tracker
> To: HASTRO-L at listserv.wvu.edu
> Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 7:19 AM

> Ancient Greek Computer Had Surprising
> Sun Tracker
> 
> 
> By Lisa Grossman  
> April 1, 2011  |  
> 6:28 pm  |  
> 
> 
> 
> The world’s oldest astronomical calculator is famous for
> having intricate gear systems centuries ahead of their time.
> But new work shows the Antikythera mechanism used pure
> geometry, as well as flashy gears to track celestial
> bodies’ motion through the heavens.
>  
> The device, a 2,000-year-old assemblage of gears and wheels
> that matched 19th century clocks in precision and
> complexity, was salvaged from a shipwreck off the Greek
> island of Antikythera in 1901. 
>  
> Called the Antikythera mechanism, the machine gracefully
> kept track of the day of the year, the positions of the sun
> and the moon, and perhaps the other planets. It also
> predicted eclipses and kept track of upcoming Olympic
> games.
>  
> Most of the mechanism’s calculations were driven by a
> series of 37 interlocking dials, which may have been
> manipulated by a hand crank. The front of the mechanism had
> a clock-like face that denoted the calendar date in two
> concentric circles, one showing the signs of the Greek
> zodiac, and one carrying the Egyptian months of the year. 
>  
> Three hands denoting the date and the position of the sun
> and the moon moved through the zodiac and the months as the
> gears turned.
> “It’s a pretty elaborate piece of machinery,” said
> science historian James Evans of the University of Puget
> Sound in a presentation at the University of Washington in
> Seattle on March 31. “Nobody would ever have guessed that
> there could be something this complex in the second century
> [BC].”
>  
> Full article and images here:
>  
> http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/04/antikythera-mechanism/
>  
>      
>         
>           
>