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As I work on x-ray tomography this was a really interesting example of
its use in archaeology. I have spoken to some of the people involved
who were able to read inscriptions on the inside face of gear wheels
which helped understand its purpose. It makes you wonder if they had
other devices of similar complexity in ancient Greece.

On 17 October 2016 at 15:28, Jackson McDonald  wrote:
> Today I had an opportunity to see the Antikythera mechanism at the National
> Archeological Museum in Athens.  It is an astounding analogue computer
> dating back about 2000 years.  It is far more technically sophisticated than
> archeologists thought possible for that period.
>
> Here is a link to a Wikipedia article:
>>
>> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism
>
> There are also several documentaries (of varying quality) about the
> Antikythera mechanism on YouTube describing how it was recovered from an
> ancient shipwreck and how scientists struggled for decades to understand is
> purpose and internal workings.
>
> Fascinating stuff!
>
> JMcD
>
> 



--
Professor of Applied Mathematics
http://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/bl

   

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