Episode 26: Antikythera Mechanism

Antikythera mechanism Everyone who comes across the Antikythera
mechanism goes through an initial phase of disbelief, then the
awe-inspiring realisation that something almost from another world
actually exists in ours. Imagine William Shakespeare writing Hamlet
using a laptop. Surely a ridiculous proposition, he was about 300
years too early for that. He didn’t but today’s topic is just as
incredible but thanks to the presence of physical evidence- true.
The bronze department of the Museum in Athens has a small device
slightly bigger than a pocket dictionary which has spent 2000 years
under the Mediterranean Sea. It's a handmade, hand-operated
mechanical mechanism which may have looked like a multi-handed
clock. This remarkably compact device can display the calendar,
predict eclipses, illustrate the phase of the moon, indicate the
position of most of the planets and even takes account of the
precession of the lunar orbit. The mechanism is driven by a
collection of precision gear wheels made in Greece about 100 BC and
nothing like it would be made again for at least another 1000
years. My thanks to members of the Manchester Astronomical Society
who arranged this visit for Tony Freeth to come and talk to them,
and Conway Mothobi of the Manchester Metropolitan University
hosting the event where this recording was made.My thanks, of
course, to Tony Freeth for making the time on the day.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik5qgd4kPCI Other videos on Youtube
Michael Wrights’ working model Nature Video: Antikythera Mechanism
Part 1 Nature Video: Antikythera Mechanism Part 2 X-Ray images of
the Antikythera   An excellent version of the Antikythera
Mechanism made with Lego.