Tuesday 28 July 7.00pm–8.30pm
Decoding the heavens
Speaker: Jo Marchant
In 1900, a group of sponge divers blown off course in the Mediterranean discovered an ancient shipwreck, dating from around 70 BC. Lying unnoticed for months amongst the divers' hard-won haul was what appeared to be a formless lump of corroded rock. Then it cracked open, revealing gearwheels, inscriptions and precisely marked scales - it was and still is the most stunning scientific artefact we have from antiquity. For more than a century this 'Antikythera mechanism' has puzzled academics. Author Jo Marchant will tell the story of the 100-year quest to understand this ancient computer and will explain how it used surprisingly sophisticated astronomy to accurately predict the motions of the heavens. This is a story that challenges our assumptions about technology transfer over the ages while giving us fresh insights into history itself.
Admission: Tickets cost £8, £6 concessions, £4 Ri members. You can book tickets online at www.rigb.org or by calling the Events Team on 020 7409 2992 9.00am-5.00pm Monday to Friday.
Venue: The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS
For more information please visit www.rigb.org
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Important links
- AHRC Science in Culture Theme
- Bergen Literature and Science Research Group
- British Society for the History of Science
- Cardiff ScienceHumanities
- Commission on Science and Literature
- Erlangen Center for Literature and Natural Science (ELINAS)
- Fiction Meets Science (FMS)
- History of Science Society
- International Union of History and Philosophy of Science
- Journal of Literature and Science
- Literature and Science at the University of Oxford
- Literature and Science Hub, University of Liverpool
- London Interdisciplinary Discussion Group
- Natural History Museum Centre for Arts and Humanities Research
- Royal Society Centre for History of Science
- SLSA, Europe
- Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts
- University of Reading Centre for Interdisciplinary Research into the Humanities and Science (IRHS)