In place of our regular meeting, we are in for an uncommon treat!  Alan Thorndike (neighbor of Stan and Julia Mueller) and James Evans of UPS will tell us about the oldest known scientific calculator, the Antikythera Mechanism, a wood and bronze implement built around 100 BC.  When a date was entered via a crank, the mechanism calculated the position of the Sun and Moon or other astronomical information such as the locations of planets).  The device is remarkable for the level of miniaturization and for the complexity of its parts (it has more than 30 gears), which is comparable to that of 19th-century clocks.

A working model, one of only a handful like it in the world, which Thorndike, with the assistance of Evans, built from scratch, will be on display.  It tells a story—of Greek astronomy and of modern science. It is a story that began more than 2,200 years ago when the Babylonians and Greeks were beginning to penetrate the mysteries of the sky. It is a story that could not be told until the development of high-tech tools such as digitized X-rays and computer tomography. It is a story that is rewriting the understanding of the history of technology.

In the mid-19th century, French physicist Jean Foucault became the first scientist to demonstrate the rotation of the earth using laboratory apparatus instead of astronomical observations. In 1851 he shared his pendulum demonstration with the public at the Parthenon in Paris, where it can still be viewed today.
 
The Foucault pendulum at Puget Sound is located in the center of the spiral staircase in Harned Hall’s main lobby.  Hung from the ceiling of the third floor, the cable pendulum is suspended over a base with inlaid wood in a beautiful Penrose pattern.  The pattern is named for British physicist and mathematician Roger Penrose, who, in the 1970s, developed sets of shapes to tile a surface in regular, but non-repeating patterns.  The university's pendulum base was designed and constructed by Professor Thorndike.

The University of Puget Sound is located in Tacoma, Washington, approximately 30 miles south of Seattle and 15 miles north of Olympia.
 
From I-5, take the Highway 16/Bremerton Exit.  Take the Union Avenue Exit from Hwy 16.   You will be at about the S. 23rd Street block of Union Avenue.   Go north on Union to about N. 15th Street and Harned/Thompson Hall will be on your right.  The parking lot for Harned/Thompson Hall is on N. Union Street, just before Thompson Hall.  The entrance to Thompson Hall and lecture room will be immediately off the parking lot (look for NAWCC signs).  

•    Light refreshments will be available
•    The Program will begin shortly after 1:00 PM, so please be on time.
•    Due to the length of the program, no formal business meeting will be conducted, although a brief opportunity will exist for mention of urgent business issues.
•    As Professor Thorndike is retiring later this month, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity - don’t miss it!  And, thanks to Julia Mueller for enabling the opportunity!