A portable cosmos : revealing the Antikythera Mechanism, scientific wonder of the ancient world / Alexander Jones.

By:

Jones, Alexander [Author]

Material type: Text

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9780190618582

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Electronic Books.

LOC classification:

QB107 .P678 2017

Online resources:

Click to access digital title | log in using your CIU ID number and my.ciu.edu password

Available additional physical forms:

Contents:

Chapter 2. The Investigations -- Chapter 3. Looking at the Mechanism -- Chapter 4. Calendars and Games -- Chapter 5. Stars, Sun, and Moon -- Chapter 6. Eclipses -- Chapter 7. The Wanderers -- Chapter 8. Hidden Workings -- Chapter 9. Afterword: The Meaning of the Mechanism.

Scope and content: "The Antikythera Mechanism, now 82 small fragments of corroded bronze, was an ancient Greek machine simulating the cosmos as the Greeks understood it. Reflecting the most recent researches, A Portable Cosmos presents it as a gateway to Greek astronomy and technology and their place in Greco-Roman society and thought"-- Scope and content: "From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Terracotta Army, ancient artifacts have long fascinated the modern world. However, the importance of some discoveries is not always immediately understood. This was the case in 1901 when sponge divers retrieved a lump of corroded bronze from a shipwreck at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea near the Greek island of Antikythera. Little did the divers know they had found the oldest known analog computer in the world, an astonishing device that once simulated the motions of the stars and planets as they were understood by ancient Greek astronomers. Its remains now consist of 82 fragments, many of them containing gears and plates engraved with Greek words, that scientists and scholars have pieced back together through painstaking inspection and deduction, aided by radiographic tools and surface imaging. More than a century after its discovery, many of the secrets locked in this mysterious device can now be revealed. In addition to chronicling the unlikely discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism, author Alexander Jones takes readers through a discussion of how the device worked, how and for what purpose it was created, and why it was on a ship that wrecked off the Greek coast around 60 BC. What the Mechanism has uncovered about Greco-Roman astronomy and scientific technology, and their place in Greek society, is truly amazing. The mechanical know-how that it embodied was more advanced than anything the Greeks were previously thought capable of, but the most recent research has revealed that its displays were designed so that an educated layman could understand the behavior of astronomical phenomena, and how intertwined they were with one's natural and social environment. It was at once a masterpiece of machinery as well as one of the first portable teaching devices. Written by a world-renowned expert on the Mechanism, A Portable Cosmos will fascinate all readers interested in ancient history, archaeology, and the history of science"--

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	URL	Status	Date due	Barcode
Online Book (LOGIN USING YOUR MY CIU LOGIN AND PASSWORD)	G. Allen Fleece Library ONLINE	Non-fiction	QB107 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Link to resource	Available		ocn987308118

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Previous	QB82.788 2014 Australasian sky guide /Nick Lomb.	QB82.82 The great Melbourne telescopeRichard Gillespie.	QB88 Galileo's telescope : a European story /	QB107 A portable cosmos : revealing the Antikythera Mechanism, scientific wonder of the ancient world /	QB209.5 Measuring,Holly Karapetkova.	QB213 Measuring time with a clock /by Beth Bence Reinke ; illustrated by Kathleen Petelinsek.	QB281 Management models for future seismological and geodetic facilities and capabilities : proceedings of a workshop /	Next

Includes bibliographies and index.

"The Antikythera Mechanism, now 82 small fragments of corroded bronze, was an ancient Greek machine simulating the cosmos as the Greeks understood it. Reflecting the most recent researches, A Portable Cosmos presents it as a gateway to Greek astronomy and technology and their place in Greco-Roman society and thought"--

"From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Terracotta Army, ancient artifacts have long fascinated the modern world. However, the importance of some discoveries is not always immediately understood. This was the case in 1901 when sponge divers retrieved a lump of corroded bronze from a shipwreck at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea near the Greek island of Antikythera. Little did the divers know they had found the oldest known analog computer in the world, an astonishing device that once simulated the motions of the stars and planets as they were understood by ancient Greek astronomers. Its remains now consist of 82 fragments, many of them containing gears and plates engraved with Greek words, that scientists and scholars have pieced back together through painstaking inspection and deduction, aided by radiographic tools and surface imaging. More than a century after its discovery, many of the secrets locked in this mysterious device can now be revealed. In addition to chronicling the unlikely discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism, author Alexander Jones takes readers through a discussion of how the device worked, how and for what purpose it was created, and why it was on a ship that wrecked off the Greek coast around 60 BC. What the Mechanism has uncovered about Greco-Roman astronomy and scientific technology, and their place in Greek society, is truly amazing. The mechanical know-how that it embodied was more advanced than anything the Greeks were previously thought capable of, but the most recent research has revealed that its displays were designed so that an educated layman could understand the behavior of astronomical phenomena, and how intertwined they were with one's natural and social environment. It was at once a masterpiece of machinery as well as one of the first portable teaching devices. Written by a world-renowned expert on the Mechanism, A Portable Cosmos will fascinate all readers interested in ancient history, archaeology, and the history of science"--

Chapter 1. The Wreck and the Discovery -- Chapter 2. The Investigations -- Chapter 3. Looking at the Mechanism -- Chapter 4. Calendars and Games -- Chapter 5. Stars, Sun, and Moon -- Chapter 6. Eclipses -- Chapter 7. The Wanderers -- Chapter 8. Hidden Workings -- Chapter 9. Afterword: The Meaning of the Mechanism.