Secrets of the Antikythera Mechanism: Session 2

[Recorded: May 13, 2015]
In 1900, sponge divers off the coast of the tiny Greek island of Antikythera made an astonishing discovery: the wreck of an ancient Roman ship lay 200 feet beneath the water, its dazzling cargo spread out over the ocean floor. Among the life-size statues and amphorae was an encrusted piece of metal, which after nearly a century of investigation, is finally revealing its secrets. Called the Antikythera Mechanism, study has shown that this improbably preserved object is actually an ancient Greek astronomical computer of a technical sophistication not seen until the clock making traditions of Medieval Europe—1,500 years after the Mechanism is believed to have been made (about 200 BC).Recent advances in computer imaging as well as painstaking scholarship have finally elucidated nearly all details of the Mechanism.

Join us as we dive into the mysterious history of the Antikythera Mechanism, guided by several world experts: Jonathan Knowles, from Autodesk, discusses the use of digital tools to recreate historical objects; Michael Wright, former curator of mechanical engineering at the Science Museum in London, describes the structure and recreation of the Mechanism at University College London and brought a model of the device to the Museum for audience members to explore; professor Nicolaos Alexopoulos presents on the sociology, engineering, and science of ancient Greece; marine archaeologist Brendan Foley describes his 2014 diving expedition to the original Antikythera wreck site; and, finally, Tatjana Dzambazova will discuss her projects at Autodesk for the digital preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage. The host of this event is Museum Trustee Michael Hawley.

[energt]

Antikythera related talk starts at 24:00 This was a very informative and great talk. Wish I was there. Thanks for this.

[williamthomas]

Photogrammetry and LIDAR is opening up so much of the world's surface to explore! Wonderful time to pay attention to new discoveries

[troycongdon]

What an incredible set of talks. Thank you for putting in the effort to preserve and share this.

[thepickles]

I love the man whose made the model so long that he’s openly direct about how problematic the device is. As a glorified legend this mechanism has become, made with some limitations of its time, sure.. it’s extraordinary that such a thing was attempted and constructed then. I’d love to have a miniature replace of his functional model just to look upon and remember how brilliant innovations in design and technology can be lost and found at any time.

[Cozmik_Overkill]

I would love to see a modern iteration of the antikythra mechanism. I'm sure there's a market for that sort of thing, I know I wouldn't mind owning one 😉

[GateWay-kyxq]

What a fascinating subject, really enjoyed that certainly beats watching garbage television of today. These 2 sessions really puts into perspective just how dumb the modern age really is, we tend to think we're a so clever with all our modern innovations, the digital age and all that, but I truly believe that somewhere along the line we have forgotten the important things, or we just choose to ignore them. Thank God not all the sciences are used to create boring and mundane gadgets such as smart phones and tablets, but are used to better understand the past.

Now off to read about 'Photogrammetry'


TURK

[GOLDVIOLINbowofdeath]

When I was in architecture school my first year design teacher said “craftsmanship equals education”. My school was really big on model making in addition to drafting and perspective drawing. I loved model making and was a perfectionist. Nowadays I’m an inventor and I make my own prototypes using inexpensive tools. No CNC for me. They say necessity is the mother of invention but I say laziness is the mother of invention. if you have to build your invention prototype yourself without CNC instead of draw it in 3-D you will either have to work night and day or you will have to be creative and simplify. If you have access to 3-D modeling tools and 3-D printers you will never learn how to think 3-D in your brain. The brain is a muscle and if you don’t use it it will atrophy. Actually the brain is a bunch of muscles and whichever ones you don’t use will atrophy. Somebody should run a test to see how well old school people can guess the number of marbles in a jar versus kids raised using computers from the get go. You say well who cares who can guess the number of marbles in a jar. It’s nice to have enough instinct to know when someone has the decimal point in the wrong place and off by a factor of 10 or 100 or 1000. Could mean life or death

[blackbird]

As a commercial diver who's done plenty of pipeline repair in the gulf, I confess I wear a Casio $40 dollar dive watch when I'm working, and when I'm on dry land, then I bring out the ''good watch.''

[sirhrmechanic]

part two is also fantastic!!! Great videos on an amazing topic. Thanks for posting.

[keithfitzpatrick]

Very Very Very Cool.
Thank you so much for this informative video. Awesome.
I love to learn from the educated disciplines.
I especially like the facts and archeological efforts.

[StofStuiver]

Yes dear lady, you absolutely convinced me and have my 100% attention!!!
The tech is also very nice.

[PacoOtis]

Wow! Thanks for an excellent video. I do believe Michael Wright is our modern day Archimedes! What a dedicated genius he appears to be. It is quite interesting to see that the "ancients" were as smart as they were as we tend to think we are the only "smart" ones. Great video of dedicated people doing professional work.

[ZBABOUINOS]

Maritime archaeology on a luxury yacht, in Greece! 🤩
Pure class...

[edstar]

I watched the whole thing this was very interesting. Thank you.

[SgtJoeSmith]

Thanks I needed something I could fall to sleep listening too. Also I used Autocad 12 in college in 90s

[FrancoisLabelle-yftj]

Technology put to good use! How refreshing!

[tjsmith]

Fantastic, breathtaking stuff! I wonder if in a few years time, will archaeologists then regard this current work as antediluvian.

[dloadthis]

Great presentation! I'm surprised you don't have a patreon account for viewers that wish to donate to this very worthy cause.

[elissitdesign]

Having done photogrammetry myself, I’m in complete shock of their results with the submersible. It’s not easy, especially with their large dataset—massive computational power and plenty of RAM is required. I love the technology side of things and wish they went into more detail on that side. Stunning video nonetheless!

[jamessullivan]

So many people hate kythera's and I don't get why. I have never been antikythera.