Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Antikythera Mechanism

  1. #1
    Community Leader RPMiller's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Watching you from in here
    Posts
    3,226

    Post Antikythera Mechanism

    Some of you may have heard about this device a couple years ago. They have discovered that it is an extremely complex device.

    If you haven't heard of it definitely check it out. It has a lot of roleplaying potential and definitely inspires a few ideas.

    http://www.nature.com/news/2008/0807...l/454561a.html

    There is a video at the bottom of the article that is worth checking out as well.
    Bill Stickers is innocent! It isn't Bill's fault that he was hanging out in the wrong place.

    Please make an effort to tag all threads. This will greatly enhance the usability of the forums.



  2. #2
    Administrator Facebook Connected Robbie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Dayton, OH
    Posts
    3,868
    Blog Entries
    6

    Post

    It says you have to pay to access the article.
    All Hail FlappyMap! Long Live MapFeed!

    Robbie Powell - Site Admin

  3. #3
    Community Leader RPMiller's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Watching you from in here
    Posts
    3,226

    Default

    Oh weird! I guess they rolled it over due to traffic or something. I was able to access it earlier today with no problem. Maybe it is free only for the first day or something.
    Bill Stickers is innocent! It isn't Bill's fault that he was hanging out in the wrong place.

    Please make an effort to tag all threads. This will greatly enhance the usability of the forums.



  4. #4
    Professional Artist Anna's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Corona, CA
    Posts
    104

    Post

    I couldn't access it either.

    But Wikipedia has an excellent article about it:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

    Amazing thing!
    //Anna

  5. #5
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    St. Charles, Missouri, United States
    Posts
    8,392

    Post

    It's a broken and rusted device they found on the bottom of the Mediterranean, they think it's some sort of calendar/navigation device. I saw a show on it on History channel a few years ago.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

  6. #6
    Community Leader RPMiller's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Watching you from in here
    Posts
    3,226

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ascension View Post
    It's a broken and rusted device they found on the bottom of the Mediterranean, they think it's some sort of calendar/navigation device. I saw a show on it on History channel a few years ago.
    This article actually talked about the most recent discoveries that it is actually a computer used to track dates and other things, but it focused mainly on the discovery that one of its functions was to track the Olympiad timing. It is turning out to be a marvel of engineering and they are starting to rethink just how advanced Greece was circa 100-150 BC which is when this device was created.

    I really wish I would have downloaded that video when I had a chance.
    Bill Stickers is innocent! It isn't Bill's fault that he was hanging out in the wrong place.

    Please make an effort to tag all threads. This will greatly enhance the usability of the forums.



  7. #7

    Post

    Looks like someone reconstructed the device, and it works:
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/bl...first-computer
    Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
    http://www.bryanray.name

  8. #8
    Community Leader RPMiller's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Watching you from in here
    Posts
    3,226

    Default

    Oh sweet! That is pretty cool considering its age and the assumed technology of the time period. That would be awesome to find more stuff like that from that time period... assuming there was more.
    Bill Stickers is innocent! It isn't Bill's fault that he was hanging out in the wrong place.

    Please make an effort to tag all threads. This will greatly enhance the usability of the forums.



  9. #9

    Post

    There would almost have to be. A device like that is surely too complex to have been the first of its kind. I'm imagining some tortured clockwork genius locked away in a tiny room in Alexandria building intricate gear-driven machines.

    And of course, there were the inventions Archimedes and Hero of Alexandria. Come to think of it, it wouldn't surprise me if Archimedes was responsible for the Antikythera device, at least in part.
    Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
    http://www.bryanray.name

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •