On 12/8/2012 10:27 PM, Henry Baker wrote:
Thanks, Robert, for posting this terrific paper! ...
A substantial reference I highly recommend to anyone interested in the Antikythera device and the science, mathematics, and technology of the period is: Lucio Russo, The Forgotten Revolution, Springer, 2004 Russo collects a wealth of evidence suggesting that pockets of Greek science in the period 300BC-100BC were much more advanced than usually thought, then most of their discoveries were later lost or misunderstood. Many of his conclusions are controversial, e.g., their understanding and applying the inverse square law of gravitation. But if you accept even half his arguments, you'll seriously rethink your view of the history of science. He also makes a good case that the definitions of point and line in Euclid's Elements were added later and Euclid had a more modern and axiomatic view than modern readers realize. Even if you don't accept all his conclusions, you'll want to read all the ancient source material he has collected. There's a short summary here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucio_Russo George http://georgehart.com/