Antikythera Mechanism
Dec. 25th, 2008 03:50 pmSo I've spent most of my Christmas afternoon watching the Mythbusters marathon on Discovery. I hadn't really watched the show, but their approach was hysterical.
I had given my father Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of World's First Computer by Jo Marchant for his Christmas gift. It's a fascinating jigsaw puzzle, part history and part engineering. Nature published several articles on Antikythera Mechanism, including a lengthy one by Marchant. Some of articles are archived on the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project
Wired has even gotten into the act, posting about Michael Wright's attempt to recreate the Mechanism. Apparently there's a fair bit of controversy over the x-rays and whether it's being put together or analyzed correctly. Oh, archaeologists and their "You're doing it wrong!" attitudes always amuse me. (This after watching half a special on Schliemann and his charming approaches to the field...)
And appropriately enough for me, the remains were found in a shipwreck.
I had given my father Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of World's First Computer by Jo Marchant for his Christmas gift. It's a fascinating jigsaw puzzle, part history and part engineering. Nature published several articles on Antikythera Mechanism, including a lengthy one by Marchant. Some of articles are archived on the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project
Wired has even gotten into the act, posting about Michael Wright's attempt to recreate the Mechanism. Apparently there's a fair bit of controversy over the x-rays and whether it's being put together or analyzed correctly. Oh, archaeologists and their "You're doing it wrong!" attitudes always amuse me. (This after watching half a special on Schliemann and his charming approaches to the field...)
And appropriately enough for me, the remains were found in a shipwreck.