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Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of the World's First Computer (Paperback)
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Short Description for Decoding the HeavensTells the story of the 100-year quest to understand an ancient computer, the scientific artefact we have from antiquity. This title reveals a diverse cast of characters - ranging from Archimedes to Jacques Cousteau - and explores the roots of modern technology in Ancient Greece, the Islamic world and medieval Europe.
Full description- Publisher: Windmill Books
- Published: 01 July 2009
- Format: Paperback 336 pages
- See: Full bibliographic data
- Categories: History Of Science | Time (chronology), Time Systems & Standards | History Of Engineering & Technology | Ancient History: To C 500 CE
- ISBN 13: 9780099519768 ISBN 10: 0099519763
- Sales rank: 80,082
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Full description for Decoding the Heavens
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 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' 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 this ancient computer. 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.
