Antikythera Mechanism, the oldest computer - Dr. Xenophon Moussas
FRYKTORIES present the lecture «ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM, THE OLDEST COMPUTER».
Lecturer: DR. XENOPHON MOUSSAS, Professor in Space Physics (ret.), Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, Faculty of Physics, School of Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
The lecture was given at Zappeion Megaron, Athens, Greece, on Tuesday December 12th 2017, within the campaign Joint Action on Tobacco Control.
Moderator: Mrs. Claudia Carydis VP Public Affairs, The American College of Greece.
The campaign came under his auspices of the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic.
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LECTURE SUMMARY
The Antikythera Mechanism is the oldest known computer, a clockwork Cosmos, Planetarium, possibly an astronomical clock. It works with carefully designed gears that perform the appropriate mathematical operations to predict astronomical phenomena, the position of the Sun and the Moon in the sky, the age of the Moon, the beginning of the month, the solar and lunar eclipses.
The Antikythera Mechanism is the epitome of the Philosophy of the Pythagoreans, because to conceive the construction of such a machine, a computer, an automaton, which reproduces the movements of celestial bodies, is required to have a) the notion of determinism, b) that there the laws of nature, c) that the laws of nature are expressed with precision only with mathematics, d) that natural phenomena are understood and interpreted with the laws of physics, e) sometimes predicted by the laws of nature i.e. to construct such a mechanism you have to develop what is now called modeling in science, i.e. to conceive, develop and put in operation the doctrine of the Pythagorean philosophy that everything is described with mathematics.
The Antikythera Mechanism is made by Greek scientists, with appropriate knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, physics, engineering and metallurgy, with bronze gears that enable the constructor to perform specific calculations with gear trains and the user to find the position of celestial bodies in the sky. It shows the position of the Sun, the Moon (including its phase - age of the Moon), it predicts solar and lunar eclipses, it determines the years of the Greek Crown Games: the Olympics, the Naan, the Pythian, the Nemean, the Isthmian, festivities that enable the common person to keep the time and have a functional calendar for agricultural and pastoral purposes, fishing and hunting, that was and still is essential for all societies.
This wonderful scientific instrument is on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens together with other treasures, many of them found in the same shipwreck of the 1st century BCE.
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LECTURER’s CURRICULUM VITAE NOTE
Xenophon Moussas, Professor at National and Kapodistrian University of Arthens, is one of the protagonists of the study of the oldest known computer and clockwork cosmos of the 2nd centyry BC, the Antikythera Mechanism.
His speciality is space physicist. Research interests include space and solar physics, planetology, experiments onboard spacecraft.
Participates in several space missions Ulysses mission, WIND/WAVES (NASA) and STEREO space mission (NASA), Solar Orbiter (ESA).
He has supervised 28 PhDs.
Published 120 scientific articles, 2 books, 150 articles in Encyclpaedias.
Awards include:
- NASA: group achievement award, Ulysses Mission, 2009,
- American Geophysical Union: Research Letters editor’s citation for excellence in refereeing in Space Physics, American Geophysical Union, Boston, 2001,
- Hipparchus award, “Arcadia”, Athens, 2010.
- Honorary Doctor of the International Academy of Education and Science, Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Cultural History (Pontic Institute), Kiev, Ukraine, 2017.
He has created exhibitions about the oldest computer, the Antikythera Mechanism, at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, the Children Museum of Manhattan, UNECSO/Paris, Drexel University, Stonehill College (Boston), University of London (Goldsmiths College), University of Birmingham, University of Reading, All Russia Science Festival, the Gustavianum Archaeological Museum of Uppsala, Olzstyn Planetarium and Observatory (Poland), the Library of Alexandria, Egypt, The Astronomical Institute of the Slovac Academy of Science, Germany, Italy, France, Algeria, Portugal and many in Greece, in Archaeological Museums, very many in Schools in Greece, England, Egypt, France; he has given numerous talks all around the World.
The exhibition is available in many languages for Universities, Museums, Schools, Cultural Centres.
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