[ASC-list] University of Sydney event, Thursday 26 November: the Antikythera Mechanism

[Helen Sim]

On Thursday 26th November, Professor Robert Hannah (University of  
Otago, New Zealand) will reveal to us the inner workings of the  
Antikythera Mechanism, the most significant scientific instrument to  
have survived from antiquity.

The Mechanism was recovered in 1901 from a 1st century BC shipwreck  
off the cost of the Greek Island of Antikythera.   The corroded  
bronze plates of over 30 interlocking gears have been subjected to  
scientific analysis (including radiation scans).

Many models have been constructed in attempts to unravel the workings  
and to help determine what this time-tracking device might have been  
used for. Our current understanding is that it is a predictor of  
astronomical positions.

Allan Bromley and Frank Percival’s model of the Antikythera Mechanism  
is on display at the Nicholson Museum in the exhibition “The sky’s  
the limit: Astronomy in Antiquity”.


Professor Robert Hannah, The Antikythera Mechanism: ‘as above, so below’
Thursday 26th November
6 pm for a 6.30 pm start
$30 ($20 Friends of the Nicholson Museum, members of the Kytherean  
Association of Australia).
Bookings essential: m.turner at usyd.edu.au; ebollen at usyd.edu.au or  
93512812


Dr Elizabeth Bollen
Curatorial Assistant

The Nicholson Museum
The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia
ph: +61 2 9351 7387
fax: +61 2 9351 7305



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