Deciphering the Antikythera Mechanism

After some occasionally over-fevered speculation , Nature magazine, in its July 31 issue, finally announced the newest findings of the research team trying to decipher the Antikythera mechanism:

The mechanism is an odd ancient device, discovered in the 1902 exploration of a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera. Made of bronze, it’s 13 inches high, 6.7 inches wide, and an astonishingly thin 3.5 inches thick, packed with gear wheels and covered with strange inscriptions.

Major work on reconstructing the device has been done, off and on, since 1959, establishing that it was some kind of astronomical calculator, probably dating from the 2nd century B.C. The latest work adds some interesting detail, particularly the fact that it included a dial for determining when the Olympic Games were to be held. And, better yet, that the mechanism was inscribed with names from the calendar used in the western end of the Greek world—and thus is quite possibly from Syracuse, home of Archimedes, who wrote a lost book on astronomical devices, called On Sphere-Making .

Great stuff, isn’t it? And here’s a video describing the new work . I don’t know precisely why these sorts of things please me so much, but it has something to do with the purity of their search for knowledge.