<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:v = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1 = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2769" name=GENERATOR><o:SmartTagType name="Street" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="address" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="City" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="place" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="PlaceName" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="PlaceType" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType> <STYLE>  </STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY lang=EN-GB vLink=blue link=blue bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>Dr. Swade, et al. - </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Am I right in understanding that this fascinating oojah would have been an analog device similar in function ( if not in external form ) to an orrery, and not "programmable?"  It sounds as if it might have solved an arbitrary problem by "passing through" all of the available gearbox configurations between a starting configuration that illustrated the relationships of the planets at some arbitrary time and the configuration illustrating the relationships of the planets at the time of interest.  Is that how others understand it?  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Cheers</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Jim McClure</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black">From: <A title=doron.swade@blueyonder.co.uk href="mailto:doron.swade@blueyonder.co.uk">Doron Swade</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">To: <A title=kathe.gust@hp.com href="mailto:kathe.gust@hp.com">'Gust, Kathe'</A> ; <A title=hgladney@gmail.com href="mailto:hgladney@gmail.com">'H.M. Gladney'</A> ; <A title=scc_active@computerhistory.org href="mailto:scc_active@computerhistory.org">'SCC at CHM'</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 11:38 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">Subject: RE: [SCC_Active_Members] The Antikythira Machine: ancientGreekcomputer</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV class=Section1> Hello. There is a new analysis of the Antikythera mechanism by Michael Wright, formerly of the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Science</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Museum</st1:PlaceType> in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:City>, now a free-lance mechanician. Using tomography techniques to ‘see’ otherwise hidden information in the surviving relic he has advanced understanding of how it may have worked and what it was likely to have been used for. He has also built a working reconstruction incorporating his findings. A non-technical report appeared in the Economist in 2002 and can be found at <A href="http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1337165">http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1337165</A>. I am in touch with Michael should anyone want more detail. I believe the work on the Antikythera mechanism is ongoing – it was a few months ago.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Best wishes<o:p></o:p> <DIV> Doron<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Doron D. Swade (Dr) (PhD, MSc, C.Eng, FBCS, CITP) Visiting Professor (Interaction Design)     <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Royal</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> of Art Visiting Professor (Computer Science)    <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Portsmouth</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">54 Park Road</st1:address></st1:Street> <st1:City w:st="on">Kingston</st1:City> upon <st1:place w:st="on">Thames</st1:place> <st1:place w:st="on">Surrey</st1:place> KT2 6AU Tel:        0208 392 0072 <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mobile</st1:place></st1:City>:  07973 122 666 Email:   doron.swade@blueyonder.co.uk   <o:p></o:p></DIV> <DIV> <DIV class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center> <HR tabIndex=-1 align=center width="100%" SIZE=2> </DIV> From: scc_active-bounces@computerhistory.org [mailto:scc_active-bounces@computerhistory.org] On Behalf Of Gust, Kathe Sent: 12 December 2005 17:09 To: H.M. Gladney; SCC at CHM Subject: RE: [SCC_Active_Members] The Antikythira Machine: ancient Greekcomputer<o:p></o:p></DIV> <o:p> </o:p> Hello Henry -<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> I knew about the existence of the mechanism, but when I first read about it no one had yet figured out what it was for.  It was assumed<o:p></o:p> to be some type of navigational instrument (which perhaps it is) but was not restored enough to make a guess at how it worked.  That<o:p></o:p> was 30 or so years ago.  It shows up in National Geographic from time to time in articles on excavations at Thera since it makes for <o:p></o:p> a nice photo of something more unusual than marble statuary and ruins.  The existence of the mechanism in conjunction with a major<o:p></o:p> volcanic eruption is one of the reasons some people think Thera was the original "Atlantis" in the old stories<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> Kathe<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <DIV class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center> <HR tabIndex=-1 align=center width="100%" SIZE=2> </DIV> From: scc_active-bounces@computerhistory.org [mailto:scc_active-bounces@computerhistory.org] On Behalf Of H.M. Gladney Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2005 7:53 PM To: SCC at CHM Subject: [SCC_Active_Members] The Antikythira Machine: ancient Greek computer<o:p></o:p> <DIV> Sometimes we even learn something new from "the idiot box."  New to me, at least, and potentially of CHM interest.  Possibly known to most listeners on this list-serve.  In case you did not see the program today on the History Channel, there follows some material dredged up after we saw it.<o:p></o:p></DIV> <DIV>  <o:p></o:p></DIV> <DIV> Apparently the ancient Greeks had a machine that anticipated and outdid the Babbage machine, although the Greek version was exclusively geared for astronomical calculations.  Called the Antikithira Machine (after the village in whose harbor its remains were discovered in 1901), it is described in the attached MS Word file and in Web pages that you can link from that.<o:p></o:p></DIV> <DIV>  <o:p></o:p></DIV> <DIV> I am curious--had any CHM worker known of this machine, and is there anything in the collection about it?<o:p></o:p></DIV> <DIV>  <o:p></o:p></DIV> Best wishes, Henry<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> H.M. Gladney, Ph.D.     <A href="http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/">http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/</A>    HMG Consulting<o:p></o:p> <DIV>  <o:p></o:p></DIV></DIV> <HR> _______________________________________________ SCC_active mailing list SCC_active@computerhistory.org http://mail.computerhistory.org/mailman/listinfo/scc_active </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>