Fedora 11 & The Antikythera Mechanism

[Olga Segou]

Hello from Greece!

I would like to recommend the Antikythera Mechanism as a possible theme for
artwork... What is so great about the Antikythera Mechanism?

* It fits within nautical and greek themes (as it is a navigation device
built in Greece)
* It is the first mechanical computer, a device ahead of its time


Find out more, here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism


a small quote from wikipedia:

"

The *Antikythera mechanism* (IPA:
[ˌæntɪkɪˈθɪərə]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA>,
an-ti-ki-*theer*-uh), is an ancient mechanical
calculator<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculator>(also described as
the first known mechanical
computer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer>[1]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#cite_note-0>
[2]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#cite_note-Washington_Post-1>)
designed to calculate astronomical
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy>positions. It was discovered
in the Antikythera
wreck <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_wreck> off the
Greek<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece>island of
Antikythera <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera>, between
Kythera<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kythera>and
Crete <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crete>, in 1901. Subsequent
investigation, particularly in 2006, dated it to about 150–100 BC; and
hypothesised that it was on board a ship that sank en route from the Greek
island of Rhodes <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes> to Rome.
Technological artifacts of similar complexity did not reappear until a
thousand years later.[3]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#cite_note-2>

Jacques-Yves Cousteau
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques-Yves_Cousteau>visited the wreck
for the last time in 1978,
[4] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#cite_note-3> but
found no more remains of the Antikythera Mechanism. Professor Michael
Edmunds of Cardiff University who led the study of the mechanism said: "This
device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind. The design is
beautiful, the astronomy is exactly right. The way the mechanics are
designed just makes your jaw drop. Whoever has done this has done it
extremely carefully." He added: "...in terms of historic and scarcity value,
I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona
Lisa<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa>
."[5] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#cite_note-4>[6]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#cite_note-Guardian-5>

The device is displayed in the Bronze Collection of the National
Archaeological Museum of
Athens<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archaeological_Museum_of_Athens>,
accompanied by a reconstruction made and offered to the museum by Derek de
Solla Price <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_J._de_Solla_Price>. Other
reconstructions are on display at the American Computer
Museum<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Computer_Museum>in
Bozeman,
Montana <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bozeman,_Montana> and the Children's
Museum of Manhattan<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Museum_of_Manhattan>in
New York.
"

Best regards,
Olga Segou.
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