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Episode 109 – The Antikythera Mechanism with Prof Xenophon Moussas

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I first came across the Antikythera Mechanism just over a decade ago. It is still the most incredible artefact from history. It is as out of place in our time as William Shakespeare using an Iphone or Vasco De Gama travelling in a speedboat.

The Antikythera Mechanism is a complex mechanical (clockwork) device that can determine the position of the planets and phases of the Moon and predict when solar and lunar eclipses will occur. Constructed about two thousand years ago, it was discovered in 1901.

The three wooded calendaric machines in the National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavik

The three calendaric machines, made of wooden gears, from around 1780 in the National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavik. They are grandchildren of the Antikythera Mechanism. References to Cicero’s text to the Antikythera are available here.

Perhaps the most recent and informative video by published by mathematician Tony Freeth is available on Youtube. A paper published by several active researchers, including Tony Freeth, was published in Nature. Investigation continues today. Underwater research continues today at the shipwreck site. Press release from June 2022. This interview was recorded in July 2022 in Athens during Cospar 2022.

Athens-based Professor Xenophon Moussas has been mesmerised by it since childhood. As a mathematician and a space scientist, he has been involved in using leading technology to reveal its mysteries. He is available for presentations on the Antikythera Mechanism and can be contacted via email xmoussas AT gmail.com.

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Episode 48: 13th February 2012: Mat Irvine, early BBC Special Effects Department and Sky at Night episode from 1963

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The same year that the first woman made it in to space in 1963, a quaint children’s sci-fi series called Dr Who started on BBC television in the UK.  Eventually it became popular around the world and has enjoyed success once more since it restarted again in 2005.

Mat Irvine worked in the special effects department of the BBC and made the original model of K9 for Dr Who but he also worked on other programs including the Sky at Night.

One of the memorable characters from Dr Who was Davros. The horribly scarred, evil looking megalomaniac creator of the Daleks and arch enemy of the doctor. Listen out for my faux pas when I refer to Davros as StavrosJ

In this episode, Mat talks about the special effects department in those early days at the BBC and about the recently resurfaced 1963 episode of Sky at Night featuring Arthur C Clark.

A clip from the missing episode was shown in the November 2011 edition of sky at night. You can see the full episode here.

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Episode10:Astronomy and Space Broadcasters

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The veteran BBC aerospace correspondent Reg Turnill recalls some of the key moments that he personally covered during the height of the space race. Reg has recorded his eye witness account in his book The Moonlandings.

Chris Lintott one of the authors of Bang! and a co-presenters on Sky at Night far too young to have experienced the Apollo program personally, looks forward to the next manned mission to the moon. You have probably heard of Galaxy Zoo but did you know Galaxy Zoo 2 is in the pipeline too.

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