The Antikythera Mechanism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 2000-year-old device which transformed our understanding of astronomy in ancient Greece. In 1900 a group of sponge divers found the wreck of a ship off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera. Among the items salvaged was a corroded bronze object, the purpose of which was not at first clear. It turned out to be one of the most important discoveries in marine archaeology. Over time, researchers worked out that it was some kind of astronomical analogue computer, the only one to survive from this period as bronze objects were so often melted down for other uses. In recent decades, detailed examination of the Antikythera Mechanism using the latest scientific techniques indicates that it is a particularly intricate tool for showing the positions of planets, the sun and moon, with a complexity and precision not surpassed for over a thousand years.

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Guests

• Mike Edmunds No other episodes
  Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University
• Jo Marchant No other episodes
  Science journalist
• Liba Taub 4 episodes
  Professor Emerita in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge

Reading list

• Gears from the Greeks: The Antikythera Mechanism
  Derek de Solla Price (American Philosophical Society Press, 1974) Google Books →
• Geminos's Introduction to the Phenomena: A Translation and Study of a Hellenistic Survey of Astronomy
  James Evans and J. Lennart Berggren (Princeton University Press, 2006) Google Books →
• A Portable Cosmos: Revealing the Antikythera Mechanism, Scientific Wonder of the Ancient World
  Alexander Jones (Oxford University Press, 2017) Google Books →
• Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of the World's First Computer
  Jo Marchant (Windmill Books, 2009) Google Books →
• Ancient Greek and Roman Science: A Very Short Introduction
  Liba Taub (Oxford University Press, 2022) Google Books →

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Programme ID: m0024x0g

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0024x0g

Auto-category: 520.9 (History and biography of astronomy)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello. The Antikythera Mechanism is one of the greatest discoveries in the history of marine archaeology.