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The Antikythera mechanism is still revealing its secrets

washingtonpost.com

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Re: The Antikythera mechanism is still revealing its secrets

#41

Post by thaumasiotes »

tacos wrote: post #26
acqq wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. That has much more sense than "grew in height in a logarithmic curve."

More detail but less beauty. I'll take a second whack at it. Ignore the details, consider the premise. The university library was under renovation. He wound up in charge of safekeeping a pile of journals. So he stacked them neatly by year and decade: - The 1900s Physics Journals: 1" tall - The 1910s stack: 2" tall - The 1920s stack: 4" tall - The 1930s stack: 8" tall ... I'm reminded of Feynman's tale of the Bell Lab…

This contradicts the earlier description of "growing in a logarithmic curve" -- it's an exponential curve. A logarithmic curve would look like this:

    - The 1900s stack: 1" tall
    - The 1910s stack: 2" tall
    - The 1930s stack: 3" tall
    - The 1970s stack: 4" tall
    - The 2050s stack: 5" tall ...

Re: The Antikythera mechanism is still revealing its secrets

#42

Post by tacos »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #41
tacos wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More detail but less beauty. I'll take a second whack at it. Ignore the details, consider the premise. The university library was under renovation. He wound up in charge of safekeeping a pile of journals. So he stacked them neatly by year and decade: - The 1900s Physics Journals: 1" tall - The 1910s stack: 2" tall - The 1920s stack: 4" tall - The 1930s stack: 8" tall ... I'm reminded of Feynman's tale of the Bell Lab…

This contradicts the earlier description of "growing in a logarithmic curve" -- it's an exponential curve. A logarithmic curve would look like this: - The 1900s stack: 1" tall - The 1910s stack: 2" tall - The 1930s stack: 3" tall - The 1970s stack: 4" tall - The 2050s stack: 5" tall ...

"Ignore the details, consider the premise." :) Have an upvote and go read the guy's Wiki article.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_J._de_Solla_Price

Re: The Antikythera mechanism is still revealing its secrets

#44

Post by MichaelMoser123 »

the article says that researches found a description of this analog computer of antiquity. This makes it the first manual page in history (however the description does not quite tell you how to use this mechanism - even more similarities to man pages)

other links: The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project : The http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/

tweets by the diver team: https://twitter.com/antikytheradive?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

a BBC documentary on the subject : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZXjUqLMgxM

Re: The Antikythera mechanism is still revealing its secrets

#45

Post by Trill-I-Am »

EdwardMSmith wrote: post #31
brianpgordon wrote: post #5

Is it just me, or does the "photo" of a diver wearing an Exosuit not really look like a real photo? https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://...

I'd agree that it probably is a real photo, but you're right. It even looks like a digital painting - not just a 3D render. I wonder if the designers picked colors and surfaces that maximize visibility and sharpness underwater for safety reasons.

How do colors and materials that lend themselves well to photography make the suit more safe?

Re: The Antikythera mechanism is still revealing its secrets

#46

Post by [deleted] »

EdwardMSmith wrote: post #31
brianpgordon wrote: post #5

Is it just me, or does the "photo" of a diver wearing an Exosuit not really look like a real photo? https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://...

I'd agree that it probably is a real photo, but you're right. It even looks like a digital painting - not just a 3D render. I wonder if the designers picked colors and surfaces that maximize visibility and sharpness underwater for safety reasons.

[deleted]

Re: The Antikythera mechanism is still revealing its secrets

#47

Post by qarioz »

jimjimjim wrote: post #36
laurencerowe wrote: post #4

There's a great BBC documentary on this from a couple of years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q124C7W0WYA

Thank you for that link! I saw it a while ago and didn't realize it was on youtube. slightly offtopic: Does anyone else think that unless a History based TV Documentary is made by the BBC (or at least a presenter with an english accent) it will almost devoid of credibility?

Why? It's not text book and scientific material but it's definitely good enough for the general population.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism is still revealing its secrets

#49

Post by jimjimjim »

qarioz wrote: post #47
jimjimjim wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for that link! I saw it a while ago and didn't realize it was on youtube. slightly offtopic: Does anyone else think that unless a History based TV Documentary is made by the BBC (or at least a presenter with an english accent) it will almost devoid of credibility?

Why? It's not text book and scientific material but it's definitely good enough for the general population.

ah, it was just a generalisation on my part. I'm a bit jaded after trying to watch US history documentaries (especially the history channel, or should i say the hitler channel) only to see that the producers felt some need to insert drama into it. Actors? with dialog? representing long-dead people for who there are no records of what might have been said? these are bad signs.
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