The Antikythera Mechanism: An Ancient Technological Marvel (Daryn Lehoux, Queen's University)
Channel: New Directions in Classics
Date: 2019-11-12

New Directions in Classics is the Department of Classics (University of Winnipeg) Public Lecture Series. Founded in 2017, our aim to bring the best of Classical scholarship out of the classroom and into the public sphere.

On November 8th, 2019, Dr. Daryn Lehoux (Queen's University) presented a talk on the Antikythera Mechanism. In the hopes of expanding the audience for this fascinating talk, we recorded it and have shared it here.

The Antikythera mechanism is one of the most remarkable technological devices from the premodern era. Originally found in the debris of an ancient shipwreck in 1901, the device was little studied and little understood until much later in the twentieth and even into the twenty-first century when its most important secrets began to be unveiled by advanced imaging techniques. This lecture looks at the remarkable technological and astronomical knowledge embedded in the ancient machine, and the remarkable technological efforts that it took to uncover them in the modern era.

This talk was sponsored by the Laird Lecture Series Fund: The Elizabeth Laird Lecture Series was established in 1971 by a bequest in Elizabeth Rebecca Laird's will "to establish lecture funds for the purpose of providing occasional public lectures in the field of science or social studies to be given by lecturers from some other part or section of Canada."  Dr. Laird, who completed her PhD in 1901, was a pioneer in the field of science. Her bequest ensures that students, faculty, and community members at the University of Winnipeg and six other Canadian institutions can engage in a lively scientific debate for years to come.