The Antikythera Mechanism Operation-Usefulness-Construction and Reconstruction

The event for the Antikythera Mechanism addressed to the general public was completed with great success, on October 16, 2019, at the Science and Technology Museum. It was organized by the Museum and the Academy of Institutions and Cultures.

The speaker at the event was Professor Kyriakos Efstathiou, Director of the Laboratory of Machine Tools and Conformational Engineering of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and now holds the ERA chair (European) and the Unesco chair for (international) for the digitization of Cultural Heritage.

Mr. Efstathiou, who is one of the leaders of the Interdisciplinary Research Team of the Aristotle University, revealed in a very illustrative way, interesting images and videos the path from the discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism, the decryption and the technical means used up to the attempts to produce copies at various stages of the research.

In a very illustrative way, the speaker proved why the Antikythera Mechanism is an important scientific instrument of antiquity. It was used for calculating the position of the sun and the moon in the sky for each day of the year, the phases of the moon and predicted the eclipses of the sun and the moon, as well as the calculation of the Olympic games and other games. He also proved the reasons why we are now sure that the gears of the Antikythera Mechanism are the first to be made in world history and this knowledge overturned the data in the history of Technology. Thus, today the Antikythera Mechanism is a milestone in the World History of Technology.

In the context of the event, Mr. Efstathiou demonstrated to the participants using the functional copy presented in the exhibition, the way it operates.