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re: The Antikythera Mechanism (pics)

A truly amazing machine - who knows how many there were. Just imagine humans sitting down an constructing such a device in ancient times.

"But it is the details that take my breath away. Beneath the powdery deposits, tiny cramped writing is visible along with a spiral scale; there are traces of gear-wheels edged with jagged teeth. Next to the fragments an X-ray shows some of the object's internal workings. It looks just like the inside of a wristwatch."

"These fragments contain at least 30 interlocking gear-wheels, along with copious astronomical inscriptions. Before its sojourn on the sea bed, it computed and displayed the movement of the Sun, the Moon and possibly the planets around Earth, and predicted the dates of future eclipses. It's one of the most stunning artefacts we have from classical antiquity."

Nature.

Truly amazing, Vince

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7119/images/444534a-i4.0.jpg

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