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SUMMARY:Decoding the Heavens: The Antikythera Mechanism - Dr Jo Marchant\,
  Journalist\, Author
DTSTART:20200131T173000Z
DTEND:20200131T183000Z
UID:TALK121546@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Janet Gibson
DESCRIPTION:Jo Marchant is an award-winning science journalist and author 
 of several popular science books including Decoding the Heavens: Solving t
 he mystery of the world’s first computer and the New York Times bestsell
 er Cure: A journey into the science of mind over body (both shortlisted fo
 r the Royal Society science books prize). She has a PhD in genetics\, and 
 has worked as a senior editor at New Scientist and at Nature.\n\nIn 1901\,
  sponge divers in the Mediterranean recovered several corroded pieces of b
 ronze from an ancient shipwreck near the Greek island of Antikythera. Scho
 lars soon noticed inscriptions on their surfaces\, as well as traces of ge
 arwheels\, dials and pointers. These fragments were the remains of a myste
 rious and sophisticated device\, dubbed the “Antikythera mechanism”. I
 t turns out to be one of the most impressive items that survives from the 
 ancient world and unique in the historical record\, an unexpected treasure
  that has proved the ancient Greeks were capable of far more than we ever 
 thought\, and changed ideas about the origins of our own machines. In this
  lecture\, I’ll tell the story of the mechanism’s discovery and the ce
 ntury-long race to decipher its workings\; discuss what it means for the h
 istory of technology\; and reveal the most recent insights into who built 
 it and why.
LOCATION:LMH\, Lady Mitchell Hall
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