Antikythera mechanism
“An ancient mechanical computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was recovered in 1900–1901 from the Antikythera wreck. Its significance and complexity were not understood until decades later. Its time of construction is now estimated between 150 and 100 BC. Technological artifacts of similar complexity and workmanship did not reappear until the 14th century, when mechanical astronomical clocks were built in Europe.”
Today in history:
The assassination of Inejiro Asanuma:
While giving a speech in front of live television cameras, Japanese politician Inejiro Asanuma was attacked by a seventeen year old student and fatally stabbed to death.
The student was a far rightist at odds with Asanuma’s Socialist views.
This photo was taken immediately after the sword had been pulled out of Asanuma during the stabbing.
October 12, 1960 - 51 years ago today.
Moon Dust from Apollo 11
You just never know what you’ll find in storage…
“When Apollo 11 returned from its historic flight in 1969, the moon rocks and lunar soil collected by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin eventually found their way to some 150 laboratories worldwide. One of those was the Space Sciences Laboratory in Latimer Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. After experiments were conducted and papers published, those samples should have been sent back to NASA. Instead they wound up in storage, where they sat collecting dust until they were discovered more than four decades later.”
