Antikythera Mechanism: Evidence of a Lunar Calendar (2020) | Hacker News Reader

Antikythera Mechanism: Evidence of a Lunar Calendar (2020)

bhi.co.uk

69 pointsmmastrac10 comments

If you're curious on what the antikythera mechanism is in a more practical sense, I can't recommend enough the ongoing clickspring project where they build one.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0...

Really fascinating and meditative video series, excellently filmed. Can not recommend it enough!

He's the first author listed on this paper, too.

It's the reason he took a hiatus from filming, because he discovered this and had to write it into a paper rather than just talking about it on Youtube.

As a hobby machinist I love watching Clickspring. I am awestruck by his skills and his great film work as well.

The paper has the following in the acknowledgements: " In addition, C.B. particularly thanks Clickspring patrons "

Not only is he a high quality youtuber, he is also a high quality human.

Huh, by coincidence the episode this month of a podcast I do on the history of astronomy happened to be on the Antikythera Mechanism so it has been top of mind for me. If you want to hear a little about the history of the discovery of this device the episode's page with a transcript is here: https://songofurania.com/episode/022

It's a fascinating device --- it's the earliest known geared mechanism in Europe. It seems to tantalizingly suggest that engineering in the late Hellenistic Era was much more advanced than we had previously suspected. It's just a shame that so much from that period has been lost.

Previous HN discussion in 2020: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25412576

Obligatory link for Clickspring on youtube who is machining the mechanism from scans: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0...

You beat me by 1 minute :)

Love these kind of meditative machining/building channels.

He is also a co-author of the posted paper.

Recommend the song of the same name by BT.

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