[lbo-talk] science notes

[John Thornton]

Charles A. Grimes wrote:
> Surfing the web this morning, I found two really interesting things.
>
> The first is something called Antikythera Project. This is a project
> devoted to studying a mechanical computation device built about 150BCE
> It was discovered in 1900 and has taken over a hundreds to figure out
> what it did. Input the date, and it calculated the positions of the
> Sun, Moon, and other celestial bodies, plus it give the date of the
> olympics. You'll have to google it because the web site address was to
> long to read in the window...
>
> CG

Have you seen a model of this device?
There's one on display in NYC at, of all places, the Children's Museum 
of Manhattan.
It's absolutely gorgeous. I could stare at it for hours.
I'm not certain how many children will really understand the excitement 
generated by seeing two 53 tooth gears in a machine from such a date.
Maybe I underestimate children?
I'd imagine there's a replica somewhere in Greece as well.
Did I already say it was gorgeous?

John Thornton