Event overview
The first analogue computer?
More than a hundred years ago an extraordinary mechanism was found by sponge divers at the bottom of the sea near the island of Antikythera. It astonished the whole international community of experts on the ancient world. Was it an astrolabe? Was it an orrery or an astronomical clock? Or something else?
Research over the last half century has begun to reveal its secrets. The machine dates from around the end of the 2nd century B.C. and is the most sophisticated mechanism known from the ancient world. Nothing as complex is known for the next thousand years. The Antikythera Mechanism is now understood to be dedicated to astronomical phenomena and operates as a complex mechanical computer which tracks the cycles of the Solar System.
Talk: 5:30 - 6:30pm, Goldsmiths University, Ben Pimlott Lecture Theatre
Exhibition open: 5:00 - 7:00pm
Drinks and Exhibition viewing: 6:00 - 7:00pm
Dates & times
Date | Time | Add to calendar |
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21 Oct 2014 | 5:00pm - 7:00pm |
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