The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project - A Timely Update

In 1974, Derek de Solla Price, a former member of HPS, published Gears from the Greeks, a landmark study of the Antikythera mechanism, discovered in 1900-01. Price first travelled to Athens to view the fragments in 1958. Fifty years later, Nature published significant new research undertaken by the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, building on the work of Price and others.

The current exhibition at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science focuses on this work; in conjunction with the exhibition, members of the Project will offer an overview of their research. The afternoon is open to all who are interested.

2.00 pm
Liba Taub (Director of the Whipple Museum)
Introduction

2.05 - 2.30 pm
Mike Edmunds (Cardiff University)
Overview of the Antikythera Mechanism, the history of research and
the new investigations

2.35 - 3.15 pm
Tony Freeth (AMRP)
How our views on the structure and functions of the Mechanism have
changed in the light of the new research.

3.15 - 3.30 pm
Questions.

3.30 - 3.45 pm
Tea Break

3.45 - 4.00 pm
Yanis Bitsakis (AMRP, Athens University)
Analysis of the new data in terms of the inscriptions and their meaning

4.05 - 4.45 pm
Alexander Jones (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, NYU)
How the inscriptions are giving insights into the cultural and
social origins of the Mechanism and its place in the history of
astronomy and technology

4.45 - 5.15 pm
Questions

5.15 pm
Paul Cartledge (A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, Faculty of Classics)
Closing remarks