View source for Biography:Michael T. Wright (curator)

{{other people|Michael Wright}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image = Antikythera-proposed-4.svg
| caption = Gearing layout proposed by Michael Wright for planetary indication on the [[Astronomy:Antikythera mechanism|Antikythera&nbsp;mechanism]].
| name = Michael T. Wright
| birth_date = {{birth year|16 June 1948}}
| birth_place = [[Place:London|London]], {{wipe|England}}
| nationality = {{wipe|United Kingdom}}
| field = [[Engineering:Mechanical engineering|Mechanical engineering]], [[History:History of science|history of science]]
| work_institution = Science Museum, London<br />Imperial College, London
| alma_mater = [[Organization:University of Oxford|University of Oxford]]<br />University of London
| website = {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814084454/http://www.mtwright.co.uk/ |date=August 14, 2018 |title=www.mtwright.co.uk}}
}}

'''Michael T. Wright''', FSA (Born: 16 June, 1948) was formerly a curator of [[Engineering:Mechanical engineering|mechanical engineering]] at the Science Museum and later at Imperial College in [[Place:London|London]], {{wipe|England}}.<ref name="ic">{{cite web| url=http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/historyofscience/chostmpeople/wright | title=Mr Michael Wright M.A., M.Sc., Cert. Ed., D.I.C., F.S.A. | publisher=Imperial College, London |access-date=12 February 2013 }}</ref> He is known for his analysis of the original fragments of the [[Astronomy:Antikythera mechanism|Antikythera mechanism]] and for the reconstruction of this Ancient Greek brass mechanism.

==Overview==
Michael Wright studied [[Physics:Physics|physics]] at the [[Organization:University of Oxford|University of Oxford]] and history of technology at the University of London. He was a schoolmaster until 1971 when he joined the Science Museum in London, working there until 2004. For most of his career, Wright was the curator of mechanical engineering at the Science Museum. He then became an honorary research associate at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at Imperial College London. He is also a fellow at the Society of Antiquaries of London.

==Antikythera mechanism==
Michael Wright made a study of the original fragments of the [[Astronomy:Antikythera mechanism|Antikythera mechanism]], an Ancient Greek brass mechanism, together with Allan George Bromley. They used a technique called linear [[Physics:X-ray|X-ray]] [[Physics:Tomography|tomography]] which was suggested by retired consultant radiologist, Alan Partridge. For this, Wright designed and made an apparatus for linear tomography, allowing the generation of sectional 2D radiographicimages.<ref name="Wright5">{{Cite journal
| author = Wright, M T.
|author2=Bromley, A. G. |author3=Magkou, E 
| year = 1995
| title = Simple X-ray Tomography and the Antikythera Mechanism
| journal = PACT
| volume =  45
| pages = 531–543 }}</ref>
Early results of this survey were presented in 1997, which showed that [[Biography:Derek J. de Solla Price|Price]]'s reconstruction was fundamentally flawed.<ref>{{cite conference
| author = Wright, M T.
|author2=Bromley, A. G.
| title = Current Work on the Antikythera Mechanism
| book-title = Proc. Conf. Αρχαία Ελληνική Τεχνολογία (Ancient Greek Technology)
| location = Thessaloniki
|date=4–7 September 1997
| pages = 19–25 }}</ref>

Further study of the new imagery allowed Wright to advance a number of proposals. Firstly he developed the idea, suggested by Price in "Gears from the Greeks", that the mechanism could have served as a [[Astronomy:Planetarium|planetarium]]. Wright's planetarium not only modelled the motion of the [[Astronomy:Sun|Sun]] and [[Astronomy:Moon|Moon]], but also the [[Astronomy:Inferior and superior planets|Inferior Planets]] ([[Astronomy:Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] and [[Astronomy:Venus|Venus]]), and the [[Astronomy:Inferior and superior planets|Superior Planets]] ([[Astronomy:Mars|Mars]], [[Astronomy:Jupiter|Jupiter]] and [[Astronomy:Saturn|Saturn]]).<ref>{{cite conference
| author = Wright, M T.
|author2=Bromley, A. G.
|  title =Towards a New Reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism
| book-title = Proc. Conf. Extraordinary Machines and Structures in Antiquity
| location = Ancient Olympiai
|date=August 2001
| pages = 81–94 }} ed. S.A. Paipetis, Peri Technon, Patras 2003.</ref><ref name="Wright4">{{cite conference
| author = Wright, M T.
|  title =In the Steps of the Master Mechanic
| book-title = Proc. Conf. Η Αρχαία Ελλάδα και ο Σύγχρονος Κόσμος (Ancient Greece and the Modern World)
| location = Ancient Olympiai
|date=July 2002
| pages = 86–97 }} University of Patras 2003.</ref>

Wright proposed that the Sun and Moon could have moved in accordance with the theories of [[Biography:Hipparchus|Hipparchus]] and the five known planets moved according to the simple epicyclic theory suggested by the theorem of [[Biography:Apollonius of Perga|Apollonius]]. In order to prove that this was possible using the level of technology apparent in the mechanism, Wright produced a working model of such a planetarium.<ref>{{Cite journal
| author = Wright, M T.
| year = 2002
| title = A Planetarium Display for the Antikythera Mechanism (a)
| journal = Horological Journal
| volume =  144
| issue = 5 (May 2002)
| pages = 169–173 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal
| author = Wright, M T.
| year = 2002
| title = A Planetarium Display for the Antikythera Mechanism (b)
| journal = Horological Journal
| volume =  144
| issue = 6 (June 2002)
| page = 193 }}</ref>

Wright also increased upon Price's gear count of 27 to 31<ref name="Wright4"/> including 1 in Fragment C that was eventually identified as part of a Moon phase display.<ref name="Wright">{{Cite journal
| author = Wright, M T.
| year = 2005
| title = The Antikythera Mechanism and the early history of the Moon Phase Display
| journal = Antiquarian Horology
| volume =  29
| issue = 3 (March 2006)
| pages = 319–329 }}</ref> He suggested that this is a mechanism that shows the phase of the Moon by means of a rotating semi-silvered ball, realized by the differential rotation of the sidereal cycle of the Moon and the Sun's yearly cycle. This precedes previously known mechanisms of this sort by a millennium and a half.

More accurate tooth counts were also obtained,<ref>{{Cite journal
| author = Wright, M T.
| year = 2004
| title = The Scholar, the Mechanic and the Antikythera Mechanism
| journal = Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society
| volume =  80 (March 2004)
| pages = 4–11 }}</ref> allowing a new gearing scheme to be advanced.<ref>{{Cite journal
| author = Wright, M T.
| year = 2005
| title = The Antikythera Mechanism: a New Gearing Scheme
| journal = Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society
| volume =  85 (June 2005)
| pages = 2–7 }}</ref>  This more accurate information allowed Wright to confirm Price's perceptive suggestion that the upper back dial displays the [[Astronomy:Metonic cycle|Metonic cycle]] with 235 lunar months divisions over a five-turn scale. In addition to this Wright proposed the remarkable idea that the main back dials are in the form of spirals, with the upper back dial out as a five-turn spiral containing 47 divisions in each turn. It therefore presented a visual display of the 235 months of the Metonic cycle (19 years ≈ 235 Synodic Months). Wright also observed that fragmentary inscriptions suggested that the pointer on the subsidiary dial showed a count of four cycles of the 19-year period, equal to the 76-year [[Astronomy:Callippic cycle|Callippic cycle]].<ref name="Wright2">{{Cite journal
| author = Wright, M T.
| year = 2005
| title = Counting Months and Years: the Upper Back Dial of the Antikythera Mechanism
| journal = Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society
| volume =  87 (December 2005)
| issue = 1 (September 2005)
| pages = 8–13 }}</ref>

Based on more tentative observations, Wright also came to the conclusion that the lower back dial counted [[Month|Draconic Months]] and could perhaps have been used for [[Astronomy:Eclipse|eclipse]] prediction.<ref name="Wright3">{{cite conference
| author = Wright, M T.
|  title = Understanding the Antikythera Mechanism
| book-title = Proc. Conf. Αρχαία Ελληνική Τεχνολογία (Ancient Greek Technology)
| location = Athensi
|date=October 2005}}
  in preparation ([http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/4635902.PDFPreprint])</ref>

All these findings have been incorporated into Wright's working model,<ref name="Wright2"/> demonstrating that a single mechanism with all these functions could be built, and would work.

Despite the improved imagery provided by the linear tomography, Wright could not reconcile all the known gears into a single coherent mechanism, and this led him to advance the theory that the mechanism had been altered, with some astronomical functions removed and others added.<ref name="Wright2"/>

Finally, as an outcome of his research,<ref name="Wright5"/><ref name="Wright2"/><ref>{{Cite journal
| author = Wright, M T.
| year = 2005
| title = Epicyclic Gearing and the Antikythera Mechanism, part 2
| journal = Antiquarian Horology
| volume =  29
| issue = 1 (September 2005)
| pages = 54–60 }}</ref><ref>Wright, M T., "Il meccanismo di Anticitera: l'antica tradizione dei meccanismi ad ingranaggio" (The Antikythera Mechanism: evidence for an ancient tradition of the making of geared instruments), in: E. Lo Sardo (ed.), Eureka! Il genio degli antichi, Naples, July 2005 – January 2006, Electa Napoli 2005, pp. 241 – 244.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal
| author = Wright, M T.
| year = 2004
| title = Il meccanismo di Anticitera: l'antica tradizione dei meccanismi ad ingranaggio (The Antikythera Mechanism: evidence for an ancient tradition of the making of geared instruments)
| journal = Αρχαιολογία & Τέχνες
| volume =  95 (June 2005)
| pages = 54–60 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal
| author = Wright, M T.
| year = 2005
| title = Ο Μηχανισμός των Αντικυθήρων (The Antikythera Mechanism)
| journal = Αρχαιολογία & Τέχνες
| volume =  95 (June 2005)
| pages = 54–60 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal
| author = Wright, M T.
| year = 2003
| title = Epicyclic Gearing and the Antikythera Mechanism, part 1
| journal = Antiquarian Horology
| volume =  27 (March 2003)
| issue = 3
| pages = 270–279 }}</ref> Wright also conclusively demonstrated that Price's suggestion of the existence of a differential gearing arrangement was incorrect.<ref name="Wright"/><ref name="Wright2"/>

In 2006, Wright completed what he believed to be an almost exact replica of the mechanism.<ref>[http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-ancient-greek-device-reveal-secrets.html Ancient Greek calculating device continues to reveal secrets] Physorg.com,  4 April 2011 by Bob Yirka</ref> With that came a paper dated 2007 entitled "The Antikythera mechanism reconsidered",<ref>{{cite report|title=The Antikythera mechanism reconsidered| doi=10.1179/030801807X163670| year=2007| journal=Interdisciplinary Science Reviews| volume=32| number=1| pages=21–43| url=http://fsoso.free.fr/antikythera/DOCS/TheAntikytheraMechanismReconsidered.pdf| access-date=18 May 2014}}</ref> recapitulating most of the points made above. In a footnote to that paper dated 29 November 2006, Wright acknowledges details explained by the Antikythera Mechanism Research Program since his publication:

<blockquote>
Note added 29 November 2006: This paper was submitted on 2 September 2006 and accepted for publication on 26 October 2006. Since then the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project Group has published interesting findings [citation:<ref>{{cite journal|first=T.| last=Freeth| title=Decoding the ancient Greek astronomical calculator known as the Antikythera Mechanism| journal=Nature| year=2006| volume=444| issue=7119| pages=587–591| doi=10.1038/nature05357| pmid=17136087| bibcode=2006Natur.444..587F| s2cid=4424998|display-authors=0}}</ref>]. Their independent survey has included study of the newly discovered fragment F, a part of the lower back dial which was not available to me. Their reading of the inscriptions on this dial reveals that the function displayed on it was the eclipse cycle of 223 synodic months, distributed around the four-turn spiral scale. (As eclipses of the Sun are rare events, the engraved sequence may, in principle, afford means for dating the Mechanism.) One revolution of the pointer thus represented (223÷4) synodic months, not one draconitic month as I have suggested. The Group offers a modification of my gear train which achieves this function and also incorporates exactly those mechanical features that I characterised as having probably been made redundant by alteration of the instrument. The satisfactory way in which the Group’s suggestions for these parts fall in with my own observations of the artefact itself, and remove residual difficulties with my reconstruction, lead me to believe that they are correct. I have no hesitation either in adopting the Group’s revisions of the function of the lower back dial and of the internal mechanism or in withdrawing statements concerning these features that conflict with them. The changes, though important, are physically quite slight, and do not affect my arguments for other significant features of my reconstruction. I stand by the conclusions of my paper.
</blockquote>

Michael Wright's research on the mechanism has continued in parallel with the efforts of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project (AMRP). On 6 March 2007, he presented his model in the National Hellenic Research Foundation in [[Place:Athens|Athens]], Greece.{{citation needed|date=February 2013}}

==See also==
* [[Astronomy:Antikythera mechanism#Michael Wright|Antikythera mechanism: Michael Wright]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.mtwright.co.uk/ Michael T. Wright website (<= this is a broken link)]
* ''[http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-Eccentric-Turner.mp3 The Eccentric Turner]'' talk at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford


{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Michael T.}}
[[Category:Historians of science]]

{{Sourceattribution|Michael T. Wright (curator)}}