Ancient calculator was 1,000 yrs ahead of its time

Reuters ^ | 11/28/06 | Reuters

[freedom44]

LONDON (Reuters) - An ancient astronomical calculator made at the end of the 2nd century BC was amazingly accurate and more complex than any instrument for the next 1,000 years, scientists said on Wednesday.

The Antikythera Mechanism is the earliest known device to contain an intricate set of gear wheels. It was retrieved from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901 but until now what it was used for has been a mystery.

Although the remains are fragmented in 82 brass pieces, scientists from Britain, Greece and the United States have reconstructed a model of it using high-resolution X-ray tomography. They believe their findings could force a rethink of the technological potential of the ancient Greeks.

"It could be described as the first known calculator," said Professor Mike Edmunds, a professor of astrophysics at Cardiff University in Wales.

"Our recent work has applied very modern techniques that we believe have now revealed what its actual functions were."

STAGGERINGLY SOPHISTICATED

The calculator could add, multiply, divide and subtract. It was also able to align the number of lunar months with years and display where the sun and the moon were in the zodiac.

Edmunds and his colleagues discovered it had a dial that predicted when there was a likely to be a lunar or solar eclipse. It also took into account the elliptical orbit of the moon.

"The actual astronomy is perfect for the period," Edmunds told Reuters.

"What is extraordinary about the thing is that they were able to make such a sophisticated technological device and to be able to put that into metal," he added.

The model of the calculator shows 37 gear wheels housed in a wooden case with inscriptions on the cover that related to the planetary movements.

Francois Charette, of the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, said the findings, reported in the journal Nature, provide a wealth of data for future research.

"Newly deciphered inscriptions that relate to the planetary movements make it plausible that the mechanism originally also had gearings to predict the motion of the planets," he said in a commentary.

Edmunds described the instrument as unique, saying there is nothing like it in the history of astronomy. Similar complicated mechanisms were not been seen until the appearance of medieval cathedral clocks much later.

"What was not quite so apparent before was quite how beautifully designed this was," he said. "That beauty of design in this mechanical thing forces you to say 'Well gosh, if they can do that what else could they do?"'

[Oberon]

Such as Cornell, Brown, Columbia, etc ... where liberals are mass produced.

Among other things of MUCH greater value, yes.

[jdm]

LOL!

[StoneGiant]

I understand that it was invented by Al Gore.

[longtermmemmory]

Think of them as leftist reservations where parents pay exorbitant fees so their children can look at them in between their drinking binges and government sanctioned sex orgies.

[Waverunner]

Not to brag, but I have a water powered organ in my coliseum as well.

I love the numerica keypad on the calculator
IVX
LCD
M+-

[longtermmemmory]

HALIBURTON SANK THE SHIP TO KEEP COMPUTERS OFF THE MARKET!

IT IS ALL GWBUSHES FAULT! Ancient global warming would never have happened if Kyoto was signed!

(/s)

This is VERY cool.

[martin_fierro]

ROR

[Revel]

"Imagine where we would be if we did not lose those 1000 years or so."

My guess is that we would all be already dead.

[AD from SpringBay]

Is it calibrated to be heliocentric? THAT would be cool.

[Wuli]

Before the Celts ever arrived in the British Isles (600BC), the people there knew a method by which, they could predict every movement and cycle of the sun and the moon, including eclipses, from any point on earth, with accuracy like only our computers do today.

The method that had to be taught and passed down was very simple.

It starts with a single long stick the exact length of a megalithic yard (2 feet 8.64 inches). It has to be that length.

Begining on the spring equinox

(both morning and evening shadows on a standing stone form a straight line and the shadows of a pair of east [sunrise] and west [sunset] aligned posts coincide both moring and evening,

use the (magalithic yard)stick, standing in the center of a circle, to sight the exact positions of the sunrise and sunset ON THE HORIZON, and mark those positions with stones placed on the circle.

Repeat those steps 30 day later, marking two new positions and then divide the space between each pair of markers into twelve segments, using smaller markers.

Repeat the sunrise and sunset sightings in another 30 days,
then divide the space between the two new markers into eight segments, using smaller stones.

Repeat the sightings in another 30 days, then divide the space between the last two stones into four equal segments with small stones.

Then wait and repeat the process again, beginning on the autumn equinox.

It sounds simple, but it works only because the megalithic yard stick and the method, working together, account for (1)the orbit of the earth around the sun, (2)the inclination of the earth on its axis, (3)the rotation of the earth around the axis and (4) the mass of the earth.

Yet long before Greek geometry, the natives of the British Isles had known of this method, taught it and passed it on for thousands of years (for which the Carbpon-14 dated remnants of these precise calcualtors are strewn across northern Europe).

[epluribus_2]

But it won't be "Vista Ready" without the 256MB video option. And don't even bring up pixelshader compatibility with DirectX9.

[Vicomte13]

The Sorbonne has been here since 600 AD.

[Oberon]

Well, there you go.

[RightWhale]

And the modern university the Postal Service.

[Vroomfondel]

you make a point, but the AK's programmign is in it's very design - like a telephone - you can't program it, it's design is it's program - a single purpose unit.

Which means it is not a computer in the manner the term is used when speaking of ENIAC and the Babbage Analytic Engine. ENIAC and the Analytic Engine are referred to as the first computers precisely because they are programmable.

[common denominator]

The Arabs invented it.

[blam]

Enigmatic relic was an eclipse calculator

18:00 29 November 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Justin Mullins

The relic consists of numerous fragments, including brass gears embedded in thick mineral encrustations (Image: Jo Marchant)

The so-called "Antikythera mechanism" was found in 1902 by sponge divers exploring a shipwreck off the Greek island of the same name, but its exact use had puzzled scientists.

The relic consists of numerous fragments, including brass gears embedded in thick mineral encrustations. The device is thought to have once been housed in a wooden box about the size of a carriage clock and is more complex by far than any other machine known to have existed on the planet for the following 1000 years.

Now a team led by Mike Edmunds at Cardiff University in Wales has shown that the Antikythera mechanism was designed to predict solar and lunar eclipses from the relative positions of the Earth, Moon and Sun.

Edmunds's team used an industrial CT scanner to map out the gear trains within the mineral-encrusted fragments. The scans allowed them to determine how the components fit together and to work out their function. The team also found fragments of previously hidden text engraved on the metal.

Long tradition

"The real significance of this is just how sophisticated the device was – much more complex than a modern wristwatch," says Edmunds. "It is beautifully designed and must have come from a long tradition of making these kinds of devices."

The team is constructing a virtual model of the mechanism, which they hope to have completed within a few months.

But questions still remain, says Edmunds. There are various written references to devices like the Antikythera mechanism and yet no other examples are known. One reason may be that the bronze from which the machine is made would have been extremely valuable and so similar devices may have been melted down.

"It may be significant that the only example we have has come from a shipwreck and so couldn't have been melted down," Edmunds says, adding that the only examples of bronze statues from the same period also come from shipwrecks.

Journal reference: Nature (DOI: 10.1038/nature05357)

[RaceBannon]

Oh, good grief, the larger universities were not created during the middle ages, but the age of enlightenment!

BUT, it could be argued, from science advancement, that those early universities LED to the age of enlightenment

I believe it was the release of the Bible in the common tongue that led to men thinking more and being smarter.

[Brujo]

The article in Nature magazine is located here.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

'Well gosh, if they can do that what else could they do?'

They could do quite a bit that they never bothered to do. The plans we have for mechanical devices are quite astounding but they never put them into use.

There is a major debate about why this was. One theory is that because of the abundant cheap labor there was a strong resistance to any kind of labor saving device. Indeed one of the Roman Emperors refused to allow a statue moving machine to be built for just that reason. Hauling statues around gave the plebes employment. A working plebe was not rioting. At least not as much.

The other theory is that while the ancient world put a great store on thinking they set little store on doing. It was not considered seemly for a gentleman to dirty his hands, he instead should sit around thinking great thoughts and talking about them.

Buildings were one thing, you could draw up a design and have the laborers build your dream, but something mechanical has to be a hands on kind of thing. You have to work with it, tinker with it and that was something only a few would lower themselves to do even as a hobby.

The first mechanical clock, the first steam engine, the first vending machine, the first pressure cooker, all were invented a couple of thousand years ago and then the plans were placed on a shelf never to be used again.