Lot of things sound Greek
and Latin ~ this is truly Greek !!
The earliest known
inhabitants were likely seasonal hunters who traveled there to exploit the
presence of migratory birds. The population of the island then changed
frequently as it was settled and abandoned several times, including a period of
significant influence by Cretan culture during the Bronze Age.In antiquity, the
island of Antikythera was known as Aigila or Ogylos. In Bahubali, they use an equipment that
could be related to modern day binocular, that shows far objects nearer .. ..
Centuries later, a NY Prof
of History of Ancient Science, called it a “philosopher’s instructional device”
in an interview with the Associated Press.
After 2,000 years under the sea,
three flat, misshapen pieces of bronze at the National Archaeological Museum in
Athens are all shades of green, from emerald to forest. From a distance, they
look like rocks with patches of mold. They
represent traces of amazing technology
that appear utterly modern: gears with neat triangular teeth (just like the
inside of a clock) and a ring divided into degrees (like the protractor you
used in school). Nothing else like this has ever been discovered from
antiquity. Nothing as sophisticated, or even close, appears again for more than
a thousand years.
For decades after divers
retrieved these scraps from the Antikythera wreck from 1900 to 1901, scholars
were unable to make sense of them. X-ray imaging in the 1970s and 1990s
revealed that the device must have replicated the motions of the heavens. Holding
it in hands, the expert mariners could track the paths of the Sun, Moon and
planets with impressive accuracy !!
Antikythera
or Anticythera (literally "opposite
Kythera") is a Greek island lying on the edge of the Aegean Sea, between
Crete and Peloponnese. Its land area is
20.43 square kilometres (7.89 square miles), the most distant part of the
Attica region from its heart in the Athens metropolitan area. Its main settlement and port is Potamós ~ today it is all about the Antikythera Mechanism, a clock-like machine
consisting of more than 30 precise, hand-cut bronze gears —so much so that
nothing comparable was built for another thousand years. A study leader exclaimed the design to be
beautiful, astronomy exactly right, and more valuable than Mona Lisa.
The researchers used
three-dimensional X-ray scanners to reconstruct the workings of the device's
gears and high-resolution surface imaging to enhance faded inscriptions on its
surface and found that the device's
front dials had pointers for the sun and moon — called the "golden little
sphere" and "little sphere," respectively—and markings, which
coincided with the zodiac and solar calendars. The back dials, meanwhile,
appear to have been used for predicting solar and lunar eclipses. The
researchers also observed that the
device could mechanically replicate the irregular motions of the Moon, caused
by its elliptical orbit around the Earth, using a clever design involving two
superimposed gear-wheels, one slightly off-center, that are connected by a
pin-and-slot device.
The team was also able to
pin down the device's construction date more precisely. Radiocarbon dating
suggested it was built around 65 B.C., but newly revealed lettering on the
machine indicate a slightly older construction date of 150 to 100 B.C. The
team's reconstruction also involves 37 gear wheels, seven of which are
hypothetical. Pieces of this ancient
calculating machine were discovered by sponge divers exploring the remains of
an ancient shipwreck off the tiny island of Antikythera in 1900. For decades,
scientists have been trying to figure out how the device's 80 fragmented pieces
fit together and unlock its workings.
The international team,
led by Edmunds and Tony Freeth, also of Cardiff University, included
astronomers, mathematicians, computer experts, script analysts and conservation
experts from the U.K., Greece and the United States. Were it not for Valerios
Stais, an important relic in the history of the computer might have gone
undiscovered forever. While sifting through artifacts recovered two years
earlier from a Roman shipwreck, the Greek archaeologist noticed an intriguing
lump of bronze among the statues, jewelry and coins retrieved by divers. What
at first appeared to be a gear or wheel turned out to be what is now widely
referred to as the first known analog computer.
To highlight
Stais' discovery, 115 years ago Wednesday, Google today dedicates its doodle to the Antikythera mechanism, a
complex clockwork mechanism, stating that the corroded instrument's 30 bronze
gears were used to track astronomical positions, predict solar and lunar
eclipses, and signaled the timing of the Ancient Olympic Games. The mechanism is now kept at the National
Archaeological Museum in Athens. As Google points out, the doodle illustrates
how a rusty remnant can open up a skyful of knowledge and inspiration.
“The
Antikythera mechanism tracked planetary positions, predicted lunar and solar
eclipses, and even signaled the next Olympic Games. It was probably also used
for mapping and navigation,” Google says. “A dial on the front combines
zodiacal and solar calendars, while dials on the back capture celestial cycles.
Computer models based on 3-D tomography have revealed more than 30
sophisticated gears, housed in a wooden and bronze case the size of a shoebox.”
“Historians
continue to ponder the Antikythera Mechanism’s purpose and inner workings, and
visitors to the National Archaeological Museum of Greece marvel at its delicate
complexity. Today’s Doodle illustrates how a rusty remnant can open up a skyful
of knowledge and inspiration,” Google says.
Very interesting indeed !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
17th May 2017.
Bib: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/;
www.heavy.com & more
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