[Ansteorra] Antikythera Mechanism meets LEGO - Creative Anachronism at its fines

[Hillary Greenslade]

Had to forward this post for all you mechanical and scientific geeks to check 
out.  

Posted originally on the Medieval-Trivia yahoo site.
Enjoy, Hillary



----- Forwarded Message ----

1. 
Antikythera Mechanism meets LEGO - Creative Anachronism at its fines 
Posted by: "Toi Fiore by way of Shane B" shaneb at ij.net   shane1bb 
Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:08 am (PST) 
That's amazing! Never underestimate our forefathers/ mothers on this earth...
But SCAdians already knew that, right?

Toi Poisson de Mortagne

http://www.pcworld. com/article/ 213249/Ancient_ Greek_Computer_ Gets_Rebuilt_ 
Using_Lego. html?tk=out

Ancient Greek Computer Gets Rebuilt Using Lego

By <http://www.pcworld. com/article/ 213249//author/ Jason Kennedy>Jason 
Kennedy, <http://www.pcworld. com/>PCWorld Dec 10, 2010 2:24 pm

[]
2000 years ago the Greeks built a device designed to calculate the motion of 
celestial bodies, a computer now called the Antikythera mechanism. Lost for 
centuries at the bottom of the ocean, it was pulled up in 1901 and has baffled 
scientists until recently. This year, designer Andrew Carol built the first 
working copy of the 

computer out of Lego bricks, the 
<http://www.newscien tist.com/ blogs/nstv/ 2010/12/worlds- oldest-computer- 
recreated- in-lego.html? DCMP=OTC- rss&nsref= online-news>New 

Scientist reports.

The Antikythera mechanism is ridiculously complex for what is arguably the first 
computer ever built. The sequence of intricate gears can accurately display 
eclipses of heavenly bodies, and the LEGO replica works just as the original did 
(as best as we can figure, since it was a wood and gears machine lying 
underwater for 

centuries). High resolution X-ray tomography (which is imaging by sectioning 
through the use of any kind of penetrating wave) was used in the determination 
of the machine's function.

The skill and understanding of the cosmos required to build something this 
complex never fails to astound me. It seems a worthy tribute to that ingenuity 
to replicate in every detail such a wonder out of LEGO, the building blocks of 
awesome. It was built with 

<http://technic. lego.com/ en-us/Default. aspx>
LEGO Technic parts, and I'll be honest: I don't remember building anything as 
sophisticated