Effing Cool

[Evangolis]

Stuff like this is just utterly cool to me.  I suggest following the link, which has a couple of cool pictures, but I'm including the article since they will probably move the link in a week or so.

Ancient calculator demystified at last
Greeks’ 2,100-year-old Antikythera Mechanism was used in astronomy

Scientists have finally demystified the incredible workings of a 2,100-year-old astronomical calculator built by ancient Greeks.

A new analysis of the Antikythera Mechanism, a clocklike machine consisting of more than 30 precise, hand-cut bronze gears, show it to be more advanced than previously thought — so much so that nothing comparable was built for another thousand years.

"This device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind," said study leader Mike Edmunds of Cardiff University in Wales. "The design is beautiful, the astronomy is exactly right … In terms of historical and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the 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.

Precise astronomy
The new analysis reveals 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 show that the device could mechanically replicate the irregular motions of the moon, caused by its elliptical orbit around 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.

"In the face of fragmentary material evidence, such guesswork is inevitable. But the new model is highly seductive, and convincing in all of its detail," Francois Charette, a researcher at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Germany who was not involved in the study, wrote in a related article in the journal Nature.

Discovered in 1900
Pieces of the 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.

Previous reconstructions suggested the Antikythera Mechanism was about the size of a shoebox, with dials on the outside and a complex assembly of bronze gear wheels within. By winding a knob on its side, the positions of the sun, moon, Mercury and Venus could be determined for any chosen date. Newly revealed inscriptions also appear to confirm previous speculations that the device could also calculate the positions of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn — the other planets known at the time.

The international team, led by Edmunds and Tony Freeth, also of Cardiff University, included astronomers, mathematicians, computer experts, script analysts and conservation experts from Britain, Greece and the United States.

The researchers plan to create a computer model of how the Antikythera Mechanism worked and eventually a working replica.

The team's findings will be presented in a two-day international conference in Athens and published in Thursday's issue of Nature.

© 2006 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

[stray]

I saw a documentary on that thing awhile back. "Effing cool" indeed.

It makes me sad on what the human race might have lost though. There could have been hundreds of ingenious devices like this documented in Alexandria.

[Sky]

They were witches! Burn it all!

[Strazos]

Boo for no larger versions of the pictures.

[bhodi]

Yeah, it's very cool. I'm waiting for more information to come out of that two day conference (Nov 30th and Dec 1st), and no one is giving any details.

It doesn't say in that article, but It turns out that the new 3d scanner they brought in was able to read the actual instruction text that was engraved on the machine by angling correctly and making a map of the millimeter indentation of the engraving; they had previously translated only around half of the text, and with this new method all but small pieces were available. With that text, knowing exactly how it's supposed to work, they can reverse engineer the pieces they were having some trouble with. It's really cool stuff and way way more advanced than they had thought.

I'm sure wikipedia's page will be updated with the new information once it's released. It also has some pictures for you, Strazos.

[Strazos]

I had a professor in college who is prolly nuts about this.

[HaemishM]

That does indeed kick much ass, geek style.

[Roac]

Yeah, that thing is awesome.  It's just one of dozens of things that the classical world had going for them that put them right on the damn edge of starting the industrial revolution 1600-1800 years before the real thing.  We'd have had our flying cars by now.

[Strazos]

And Holodecks! And really good Androids!

[Llava]

You guys know that thing is going to predict the day the world ends, right?

[Yegolev]

Jan 1, 2038.

[Signe]

Jan 1, 2038.

Jan 19, 2038

[Riggswolfe]

December 12, 2011 according to the Mayans (if memory serves.)

[stray]

"I don't know" according to Jesus of Nazareth.

[stray]

No doubt someone thinks I'm being preachy for even typing that. Haha.

[schild]

Signe is correct. NBC has registered NBC.tv through 18-jan-2038. Which is to say, on the 19th the world either ends or we're all going to be living beyond the thunderdome.

NOT SHIT! POWER!

[Trippy]

Signe is correct. NBC has registered NBC.tv through 18-jan-2038. Which is to say, on the 19th the world either ends or we're all going to be living beyond the thunderdome.

Jan 19, 2038 is when Unix machines using a signed 32-bit integer to represent time will overflow and flip back dates to 1901.

[Viin]

Jan 19, 2038 is when Unix machines using a signed 32-bit integer to represent time will overflow and flip back dates to 1901.

Awesome, Y2K again!

[schild]

But, but, NBC.

[Margalis]

It really is amazing to think that civilization could be very advanced, then backtrack for literally a thousand years. In some ways the Greeks were still more advanced than we are today. (Gays in the military kicking ass and taking names, for example) How the hell does the world as a whole lose huge advances in science, philosophy, medicine and government?

Greeks rule, and by extension so do I.

[stray]

Greeks rule, and by extension so do I.

You're like that old guy in Big Fat Greek Wedding. 

[Ironwood]

Jan 1, 2038.

Jan 19, 2038

The world will end for men on the 1st, but for women it'll take another fucking 18 days just to pick the right End of The World outfit with matching shoes and handbag.

[Big Gulp]

Greeks rule, and by extension so do I.

I'll take the Roman viewpoint on things.  They may have been clever, but they were effeminate degenerates who deserved to pass under the yoke.

[Signe]

The Romans invented the straight line.

[Sky]

How the hell does the world as a whole lose huge advances in science, philosophy, medicine and government?

Bush as president and a republican congress? At least in the modern age, he'll most likely have to step down in two years and end the mini dark age for the US.

[HaemishM]

How the hell does the world as a whole lose huge advances in science, philosophy, medicine and government?

Someone, somewhere has a vested interest in seeing that those advances are not passed down to the plebians so as not to challenge their particular power. In the Greeks' case, it was the Romans.

[Strazos]

How the hell does the world as a whole lose huge advances in science, philosophy, medicine and government?

Ever see Dark Angel? Imagine if the world was hit with an EMP - that would set everyone back pretty far. That's pretty much what happens when your collected knowledge is concentrated in a few people or places.

[Ironwood]

No it wouldn't.

That wouldn't set the advances back, just the society for a bit.  The problem is transmission of information in this case, not storage.

[Strazos]

How wouldn't it? The vast majority of our information is stored electronically. Hit the planet with an EMP, and you lose all of it, in addition to the vast majority of anything that includes electronics in its operation.

[HaemishM]

How wouldn't it? The vast majority of our information is stored electronically. Hit the planet with an EMP, and you lose all of it, in addition to the vast majority of anything that includes electronics in its operation.

No, a vast amount is BACKED UP electronically. The important shit is all on non-EMP susceptible paper/microfiche. The facilities exist to rebuild computers with blueprints, and though they may not be dual core monsters, they will be able to start us back up.

[Strazos]

Ok, so we have the designs to rebuild certain things.

What are you going to build WITH when nothing works? You're going to have to rebuild, from scratch.

[HaemishM]

Hammers and nails, bitches.  :-D

[Dren]

I don't know everything about EMP, but how exactly would it erase hard drives?  My understanding is it would knock out anything electronic that is running at the time and that is it.  My thought was that the information would still be stored.  Just reboot and you're back in business?

[Strazos]

As I understand it, it wouldn't matter if the device was on or not at the time of the pulse - the pulse itself would fry the circuitry.

[Yegolev]

I don't think you are being preachy... If you read some of the Apocrypha you might believe that Jesus kept some cards close to his chest. So, maybe he knew but wasn't saying.