Pivotal Inventions
Many inventions have proved pivotal for our society.
To observe Da Vinci planning a rudimentary helicopter, or to see Nichola Tesla experimenting with electricity would be seeing the future occur generations before those discoveries were adopted for good and for evil.
As a computer scientist however, I would plump for being in Greek society around 2 BCE.
To witness the usage, refinements, and maintenance of the Antikythera mechanism would be both exhilarating and intellectually stimulating.
The Antikythera mechanism
This is seen as the first recorded instance of an analogue computer (many miles away from the consoles that youngsters play today).
It was the means for advancing both technology and the human understanding of the cosmos.
Experts believe that this was designed to calculate the positions of celestial bodies, eclipses, and other astronomical events potentially similar to the function Stonehenge or hinted at by the Dresden Codex, designed by the Mayan culture.
Historians would have us believe that many peoples were living as subsistence farmers, yet we can marvel at refined ancient engineering and scientific thought and careful reasoning that created such a device.
The Antikythera mechanism consisted of thirty connected geared wheels hundreds of years ahead of their time.
This could not be created in isolation but would require a team of skilled artisans to collaborate to create the device.
Furthermore observing scholars and inventors unravel the mysteries of the heavens, as they manipulated gears and cogs to predict celestial events, must have been extra ordinary.
They realised we live in a somewhat predictable earth and reached beyond to chart and map the cosmos.
In a wider context, the era of the Antikythera mechanism was characterised as a time of great innovation and exploration.
The Hellenistic period was a time when Greek culture and knowledge spread throughout the Mediterranean world.
The likes of Archimedes, Euclid, and Eratosthenes were active during this era, possibly supplying the heavy lifting discipline of mathematical calculations to make this machine work.
Their contributions continue to influence our world today. This device sits in a period where many cultures came together, offering the chance to trade, to communicate and to travel.
Surely looking up at the stars with this mindset resulted in a desire to record and predict when these celestial occurrences would happen.
The Antikythera mechanism was the product of life in a diverse and dynamic environment where a spirit of curiosity and exchange of ideas were commonplace and where it would be possible to dream and see these dreams come true.
It combined Greek and Babylonian astronomy theory and Plato’s Mathematical school of thinking. It was so ahead of its time.
A harbinger of the future. It highlighted a culmination of research disciplines and technical development and it helped us understand our true place on the earth and in the universe This is why I believe the Antikythera mechanism is such a special item and worthy of a place in a hall of fame.
Jonty Leese is an Associate Professor within the Centre for Teacher Education (CTE) at the University of Warwick. He helps plan, co-ordinate and deliver the secondary PGCE with a focus on Computer Science. He works with Project Enthuse and the NCCE and he sees himself as a futurologist.
- Tags: Where in History?
