Decoding the Heavens A 2,000-Year-Old Computer -- and the Century-Long Search to Discover Its Secrets

by Marchant, Jo

• ISBN13: 9780306818615
• ISBN10: 0306818612
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-03-02
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

Marchant details the 100-year quest to decode an ancient Greek computer device. This is the surprising story behind the 2,000-year-old mechanism that challenges modern assumptions about what ancient scientists knew, and the technological equipment they used to understand their world.

Author Biography

Jo Marchant is a science journalist who has worked as a staff reporter and editor for Nature and New Scientist, where she is currently a consultant. She lives in London.

Table of Contents

Prologue	p. 1
I See Dead People	p. 4
An Impossible Find	p. 31
Treasures of War	p. 59
Rewriting History	p. 93
A Heroic Reconstruction	p. 130
The Moon in a Box	p. 159
Mechanic's Workshop	p. 187
The New Boys	p. 212
A Stunning Idea	p. 240
Old Man of Syracuse	p. 261
Epilogue	p. 297
Acknowledgements	p. 301
Picture Credits	p. 305
Sources and Further Reading	p. 307
Index	p. 319
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