Decoding the Heavens Solving the Mystery of the World's First Computer

Marchant, Jo

ISBN 10: 0099519763 / ISBN 13: 9780099519768

Published by Windmill Books, London, 2009

About this Item

Light reading creases and shelf wear, slight bump to base of spine. ; First UK paperback edition, first printing with full number line. Signed by author on title. Nice tight copy. ; Photographs; 336 pages; In 1900 a group of sponge divers blown off course in the Mediterranean discovered an Ancient Greek shipwreck dating from around 70 BC. Lying unnoticed for months amongst the items recovered from the wreck, in the world's first attempt at underwater archaeology, was what appeared to be a formless lump of corroded rock. In fact upon closer inspection it turned out to be the most stunning scientific artefact from antiquity ever discovered - the Antikythera mechanism. This is the story of how, over the course of a century, various investigators puzzled out what it was. ; Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # 33115

Bibliographic Details

Title: Decoding the Heavens Solving the Mystery of ...

Publisher: Windmill Books, London

Publication Date: 2009

Binding: Paperback

Condition: Very Good+

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: First Edition; First Printing.

About this title

Synopsis:

In 1900 a group of sponge divers blown off course in the Mediterranean discovered an Ancient Greek shipwreck near the island of Antikythera dating from around 70 BC.

Lying unnoticed for months amongst their hard-won haul was what appeared to be a formless lump of corroded rock, which turned out to be the most stunning scientific artefact we have from antiquity. For more than a century this ''Antikythera mechanism'' - an ancient computer - puzzled academics, but now, more than 2000 years after the device was lost at sea, scientists have pieced together its intricate workings.

In Decoding the Heavens, Jo Marchant tells for the first time the story of the 100-year quest to understand the Antikythera mechanism. Along the way she unearths a diverse cast of remarkable characters - ranging from Archimedes to Jacques Cousteau - and explores the deep roots of modern technology not only in Ancient Greece, the Islamic world and medieval Europe.

About the Author:

Jo Marchant is Opinion Editor at New Scientist magazine. She has a PhD in medical microbiology and has been a science journalist for nine years. She spent three years of that as an editor at the journal Nature, and her articles have also appeared in the Guardian and The Economist. She lives with her boyfriend in Brixton, London.