X-Tek's groundbreaking 450kV Microfocus CT has been instrumental in revealing the secrets of the Antikythera Mechanism. The latest results published in Nature reveals new levels of the Mechanism's complexity. The publication in Nature coincides with the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project's first major international conference in Athens.
T. Freeth (1,2), Y. Bitsakis (3,5), X. Moussas (3), J. H. Seiradakis (4), A.Tselikas (5), E. Mankou (6), M. Zafeiropoulou (6), R. Hadland (7), D. Bate (7), A. Ramsey (7), M. Allen (7), A. Crawley (7), P. Hockley (7), T. Malzbender (8), D. Gelb (8), W.Ambrisco (9) & M. G. Edmunds (1)
Letters, Nature, Vol 444, 30 November 2006.
Read Nature's free access news feature on the Antikythera Mecahnism by Jo Marchant (News Editor) titled In search of lost time, or alternatively listen to it on Nature's podcast.
The ancient Antikythera Mechanism doesn't just challenge our assumptions about technology transfer over the ages - it gives us fresh insights into history itself. - Nature, 444, 30 November 2006.
A Conference organized by the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project with the cooperation of the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation
Thursday November 30th – Friday December 1st 2006, Lecture theatre of the National Bank of Greece, Karatzas building, 82-84 Eolou street, Athens.
In the National Archaeological Museum in Athens there are the fragments of the most extraordinary surviving artefact from the classical Greek world. Recovered in 1901 in the first underwater archaeology ever undertaken, this bronze geared mechanism from the first or second century B.C. has been a profound mystery. Known (from its discovery site) as the Antikythera Mechanism, it is technically more complex than any known device for a millennium afterwards. For more than a hundred years it has been the subject of intense research and controversy, but it is only in recent decades that a coherent picture has started to emerge. The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project was set up to gather new data on the Mechanism, using the latest technologies, and to challenge the assumptions of previous research. In the autumn of 2005 the research team organized two investigations of the Mechanism: advanced digital surface imaging by Hewlett-Packard (USA) and microfocus x-ray computed tomography by X-Tek Systems (UK). This conference will include the announcement of the first results of this initiative, including a new model of its function. The organisers invite discussion and reassessment of the Mechanism's structure, origins, purpose and wider significance for the state of technology in ancient Greece.
For more about X-Tek's inspection of the Antikythera Mechanism please email antikythera@xtekxray.com.
Further information can be found on the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project website.
The Antikythera Research Project is a joint programme between Cardiff University, Athens University, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, X-Tek Systems UK and Hewlett-Packard USA, funded by the Leverhulme Foundation.
For more information please contact:
Professor M.G. Edmunds
Cardiff University
E: mge@astro.cf.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)29 2087 4043