History of research on 'Machines of Antikythera'
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The 'Machine of Antikythera' found on a shipwreck near Antikythera is a machine that combines a large number of gears to calculate the movement of stars and planets from the figures and letters written on the display board. Is considered to be a machine of. Tony Freeth of University College London, who has actually done research, explains the history of research on this machine, which is thought to have been created around the 3rd century BC.
An Ancient Greek Astronomical Calculation Machine Reveals New Secrets News and Research --Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-ancient-greek-astronomical-calculation-machine-reveals-new-secrets/
Since the discovery of the Antikythera mechanism in 1901, many archaeologists and historians have been conducting research, but the research was difficult because it had fallen apart at the time of discovery. In the early 1970s, historian of science Derek de Sora Price, who has been studying this machine for over 20 years, collaborated with a Greek radiologist to perform the first X-ray examination. This inspection confirmed that the machine contained 30 different gears, furthering the understanding of what the machine was made for.
Since this inspection was done two-dimensionally, all gears could only be captured in a plane, but Price estimated the number of gears and the gears would give the expected position of the 'moon' on a particular day. I derived that it is indexing. After that, Mr. Price identified the combination and position of the gears and created an almost perfect reproduction model of the Antikythera mechanism.
In the 1990s, Michael Wright, who worked at the Science Museum, conducted a second X-ray examination, and in 2005, multiple teams conducted a third X-ray examination, which is a mystery of the machine. Take a step forward in elucidating. A third inspection revealed that the internal gears were made into 3D, and that the machine would have predicted a solar eclipse in addition to the movement of the celestial body, as well as being engraved on the cover that protects the machine. It is also possible that the character was 'manual'.
The facts revealed by the X-ray inspection will also improve the reproduction model of the machine built by Mr. Price. At this time, the problem that the movement of the model does not match the period of the planet derived by the ancient people emerges.
Given the newly discovered gear structure, it was difficult to locate the moon in Price's model. For this reason, Wright and Fleet will create their own new models. As a result, in addition to the mechanism that identifies the approximate position of the moon, the mechanism that predicts the movements of the five planets and the sun that the machine would have shown at that time could be reproduced.
It is still difficult to unravel the complete mystery because some characters are missing from the machine. 'Why did it take centuries for complex machines like the Antikythera mechanism to reappear? We believe our research is a big step, but the evidence is great,' Fleet said. I'm not sure if the reproduction is perfectly correct because the parts are missing, but it's clear that the mystery has been solved more than ever. '
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