Posted on 11/29/2006 11:17:09 AM PST by 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?"'
It shows that we know only a fraction of the technology of the ancient world.
The Arabs didn't discover diddley. They simply took over the knowledge of the people's they conquered.
Thanks Brujo.
The Arabs did invent the camel-mounted swivel cannon!
I think it's called a buruzuk.
And all (presumably) without calculus, physics, or vector math...
There could be a thousand years of darkness ahead.
Hah! I still have trouble using a calculator that isn't RPN...
didn't some guy about 1500 years later get credit for stating that the earth was round, we revolved around the sun, etc, etc. Do we not need to rethink that myth now too.
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Technology kept chugging along but it was practical technology rather then play toys for the very rich.
Lots of practical technology was squashed back in Ancient times. After all if you came up with a water powered machine that spun thread then what would the peasants do?
Labor saving was not on their list of things that were desirable. By their way of thinking it would result in a bored unemployed workforce.
By your standard the astrolab would be a computer. The Babbage machine was the first programmable (vice purpose built) digital (vice analog) computer and the Eniac was the first programmable digital electronic computer.
The slide rule was a mechanical analog computer and electronic analog computers predate Eniac. Analog digital computers were being marketed as late as the 1990’s. They were cheaper per calculation than competing digital computers for some problems.
As recently as twenty years ago, a lot of things that are done by commercial computers nowadays required purpose built circuitry.
I agree with your statements entirely. the addition of electricity, the flexibility ot multifunctions, etc., do not preclude the fact that the devices use mechanics to perform a given function based upon input (movement of dials, etc.)
there have been some very complicated astrolabs that have been made that are quite intricate. funny how you should mention it. I was contemplating them thee other day but couldn’t recall what they were called. - thanx;-)
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