Started by Alistair Grant (@captain_al) ·
The Antikythera mechanism
6 sources · 1h 6m down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- What did the Antikythera mechanism do?
- Ended at
- “antikythera mechanism reconstruction”
The Trail
- “antikythera mechanism what does it do” (google.com)
- Antikythera mechanism (en.wikipedia.org)
- Antikythera wreck (en.wikipedia.org)
- Derek J. de Solla Price (en.wikipedia.org)
- Orrery (en.wikipedia.org)
- “antikythera mechanism reconstruction” (youtube.com)
What I came away with
A hand-cranked bronze gear computer, around 2,000 years old, that predicted eclipses, tracked the moon's phases and position, and the timing of the Olympic Games. Nothing comparable shows up again for over a millennium.
Keep going
- flights to Asia go over Alaska because the map is lying · Alistair Grant · 5 sources
- the 747 has a hump because everyone thought it would be obsolete · Alistair Grant · 5 sources
- garum: the fermented fish sauce Romans put on everything · Yuki Tanabe · 5 sources
- Japanese curry probably came via the British navy, and the Japanese navy still eats it every Friday · Yuki Tanabe · 6 sources