The Antikythera Mechanism and its Context

Guest Speaker

Thursday, 18th July 2024 (19:45 - 22:00)

Venue: Meeting Room

The discovery of the structure and functions of the remarkable Antikythera Mechanism by modern imaging methods will be described and illustrated. A strong claim (based on literary references) will be made that mechanical representations of the Universe were reasonably well known in the Classical world 200 BCE – 500 AD. It will be demonstrated that the Mechanism fits in perfectly to its astronomical era (c.200 – 60 BCE) and that its design may even show elements of earlier astronomical conventions. Its place in the development of the idea of a “Mechanical Universe” will be briefly discussed.

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Speaker: Mike Edmunds

Our speaker Mike Edmunds is an Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University and former Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy. He was educated at Cambridge but has lived and worked in Wales for over 35 years. His main research career involved the determination and interpretation of the abundances of the chemical elements in the Universe, and investigation of the origin of interstellar dust. Later work has partly focused on the history of astronomy, and Science in Society activity. Mike is Chair of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, Chair of the Astronomical Heritage Committee of the Royal Astronomical Society, a former member of two UK Research Councils (the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and the Science and Technology Facilities Council), and can occasionally be seen in his one-man play about Newton "Sir Isaac Remembers...".