5 ms·

Antikythera Mechanism

83 points by EndXA 7y ago

jhalstead 7y ago
For anyone interested, the Clickspring YouTube channel is recreating the Antikythera Mechanism. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCworsKCR-Sx6R6-BnIjS2MA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCworsKCR-Sx6R6-BnIjS2MA
- utopcell 7y ago
  The Clickspring creator hasn't provided updates for months on his Antikythera reconstruction, but recently he updated his patreon supporters of the reason why: He has discovered something new about the mechanism, previously unknown, that he is working on publishing. Fascinating!
  - minxomat 7y ago
    Ohh exciting. I saw this thread and wondered what happened to that project.
  - TheOtherDave 7y ago
    Cool!
- std_throwaway 7y ago
  Not only is he recreating the mechanism, he's also exploring antique methods and materials that were possibly used.
drexlspivey 7y ago
This guy on youtube is crowdsourcing a series where he is recreating the mechanism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML4tw_UzqZE&list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0to4RXv4_jDU2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML4tw_UzqZE&list=PLZioPDnFPN...
dang 7y ago
Plenty of previous discussion: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Antikythera%20comments%3E0&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0 https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Antikythera%20comments%3E0&sor...
- djmips 7y ago
  And how does posting a Wikipedia article link make it to near the top of Hacker news?
  - inflatableDodo 7y ago
    Firstly someone has to create a mechanical calculating technology that is lost to history before being discovered in a shipwreck by a society that has globally networked its modern equivalent. After that it gets complicated.
  - dang 7y ago
    As long as they're interesting Wikipedia submissions, they are on topic. Why wouldn't they be?
sgt101 7y ago
I like the fact that these devices were well attested in history (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#Similar_devices_in_ancient_literature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#Similar_...) but still such a surprise when they appeared in archeology.
- utopcell 7y ago
  It is as if knowledge about them was methodically wiped off history, or more likely (since history is written by non-engineers) it was not understood well enough to write about it.
  - sgt101 7y ago
    I think - just not of interest !
  - empath75 7y ago
    It seems like only a handful of people ever made them and it probably didn’t even last for very long after Archimedes died. It was essentially an extraordinarily expensive toy.
    - DoreenMichele 7y ago
      It was essentially an extraordinarily expensive toy. So not unlike early cars. By 1900, at least 100 different brands of horseless carriages were being marketed in the United States. Since they were all virtually handmade, the cars were outrageously expensive. Cars were perceived as no more than a high-priced toy for the rich. The early 1900s cars were, to many, a despicable symbol of arrogance and power. https://www.anythingaboutcars.com/early-1900s-cars.html https://www.anythingaboutcars.com/early-1900s-cars.html
    - sgt101 7y ago
      There's good evidence that this kind of thing was made in the Arab world in the "dark ages" and that many of the moving statues in western europe were powered from the same sort of mechanisms in the medeival period. Great listen here : https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bk1c4d https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bk1c4d
summner 7y ago
On my recent vacations to Athens I visited National Archeological Museum where the Antikythera is displayed. I highly recomend seeing this device and its recreations live there. Especially seeing the recontructioned devices gave me completely new perspective about ancient Greece.
person_of_color 7y ago
Any 3D printed versions?
- 6thaccount2 7y ago
  There is a really cool LEGO version someone built and you can see on YouTube.
walrus01 7y ago
For people that want to try this with a good quality 3d printer: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1821540 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1821540 I recommend 0.1 layer height and conservative settings for a slow, but high quality print.
glangdale 7y ago
I had a friend in honours year computer science who did a project on tomography of the antikythera mechanism (working on image analysis software to remove ghost images of other layers), and helped discover why his advisor's previous model of the mechanism was mechanically immobile (when you turned it, it locked). He'd discovered that an axis seen end-on was actually 2 axes, if I remember correctly. Amazingly enough he forgot to mention this in the end of year presentation of his work, so I got to ask that question to remind him... talk about burying the lede.
akkartik 7y ago
Jonathan Blow draws some interesting implications of discoveries like this one in a recent talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW-SOdj4Kkk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW-SOdj4Kkk

83 points by EndXA 7y ago

For anyone interested, the Clickspring YouTube channel is recreating the Antikythera Mechanism. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCworsKCR-Sx6R6-BnIjS2MA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCworsKCR-Sx6R6-BnIjS2MA

utopcell 7y ago
The Clickspring creator hasn't provided updates for months on his Antikythera reconstruction, but recently he updated his patreon supporters of the reason why: He has discovered something new about the mechanism, previously unknown, that he is working on publishing. Fascinating!
- minxomat 7y ago
  Ohh exciting. I saw this thread and wondered what happened to that project.
- TheOtherDave 7y ago
  Cool!
std_throwaway 7y ago
Not only is he recreating the mechanism, he's also exploring antique methods and materials that were possibly used.

drexlspivey 7y ago

This guy on youtube is crowdsourcing a series where he is recreating the mechanism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML4tw_UzqZE&list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0to4RXv4_jDU2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML4tw_UzqZE&list=PLZioPDnFPN...

dang 7y ago

Plenty of previous discussion: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Antikythera%20comments%3E0&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0 https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Antikythera%20comments%3E0&sor...

djmips 7y ago
And how does posting a Wikipedia article link make it to near the top of Hacker news?
- inflatableDodo 7y ago
  Firstly someone has to create a mechanical calculating technology that is lost to history before being discovered in a shipwreck by a society that has globally networked its modern equivalent. After that it gets complicated.
- dang 7y ago
  As long as they're interesting Wikipedia submissions, they are on topic. Why wouldn't they be?

sgt101 7y ago

I like the fact that these devices were well attested in history (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#Similar_devices_in_ancient_literature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#Similar_...) but still such a surprise when they appeared in archeology.

utopcell 7y ago
It is as if knowledge about them was methodically wiped off history, or more likely (since history is written by non-engineers) it was not understood well enough to write about it.
- sgt101 7y ago
  I think - just not of interest !
- empath75 7y ago
  It seems like only a handful of people ever made them and it probably didn’t even last for very long after Archimedes died. It was essentially an extraordinarily expensive toy.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    It was essentially an extraordinarily expensive toy. So not unlike early cars. By 1900, at least 100 different brands of horseless carriages were being marketed in the United States. Since they were all virtually handmade, the cars were outrageously expensive. Cars were perceived as no more than a high-priced toy for the rich. The early 1900s cars were, to many, a despicable symbol of arrogance and power. https://www.anythingaboutcars.com/early-1900s-cars.html https://www.anythingaboutcars.com/early-1900s-cars.html
  - sgt101 7y ago
    There's good evidence that this kind of thing was made in the Arab world in the "dark ages" and that many of the moving statues in western europe were powered from the same sort of mechanisms in the medeival period. Great listen here : https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bk1c4d https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bk1c4d

summner 7y ago

On my recent vacations to Athens I visited National Archeological Museum where the Antikythera is displayed. I highly recomend seeing this device and its recreations live there. Especially seeing the recontructioned devices gave me completely new perspective about ancient Greece.

person_of_color 7y ago

Any 3D printed versions?

6thaccount2 7y ago
There is a really cool LEGO version someone built and you can see on YouTube.

walrus01 7y ago

For people that want to try this with a good quality 3d printer: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1821540 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1821540 I recommend 0.1 layer height and conservative settings for a slow, but high quality print.

glangdale 7y ago

I had a friend in honours year computer science who did a project on tomography of the antikythera mechanism (working on image analysis software to remove ghost images of other layers), and helped discover why his advisor's previous model of the mechanism was mechanically immobile (when you turned it, it locked). He'd discovered that an axis seen end-on was actually 2 axes, if I remember correctly. Amazingly enough he forgot to mention this in the end of year presentation of his work, so I got to ask that question to remind him... talk about burying the lede.

akkartik 7y ago

Jonathan Blow draws some interesting implications of discoveries like this one in a recent talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW-SOdj4Kkk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW-SOdj4Kkk