Monday, November 5, 2012
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The Great Calculation Weekend
The Lost Calculator
Friday, November 9th
8pm
FREE
In 1840 Thomas Fowler, an inventor and a self-taught engineer, built a calculating machine made entirely out of wood. Neither the machine nor drawings survived. Mechanical engineer Mark Glusker, working with a team of historians in England, built a reconstruction to prove that it worked.
Fowler was a contemporary of Charles Babbage, one of the pioneers of early computers. While Babbage used a decimal system, Fowler used a base 3 calculation. Mark Glusker will provide a lecture about the machine, base 3 calculation and Thomas Fowler.
For further information, please visit: http://www.mortati.com/glusker/fowler/about.htm
The Great Calculation
Saturday, November 10th
8pm
FREE
Calculators are silent, ubiquitous, boring, and utterly reliable- to the point where you don’t even question the answers that you get. In the early 1960’s they were big, heavy, noisy, smelly objects. They had unique interfaces and needed constant maintenance for reliability. Calculation was a visceral process that shook the entire table.
Mark Glusker will talk about his collection of mechanical calculating machines and what makes them so compelling: from their mechanical complexity to the unique interfaces, and industrial design.
After the talk there will be an orchestrated calculation performed simultaneously by 6 mechanical calculators and members of the audience plus a very special secret musical guest!
Machine Drawing & Dissection Workshop
Sunday, November 11th
12 – 3pm
Non-members: $15
Members: $10
This dual-track workshop approaches calculating machines from a technological and experiential point of view.
We will disassemble several 1960’s era mechanical calculating machines and explore what makes them work. We will also talk about other forms of calculation without transistors.
While continuing to look under the hood of the machines, we will have a simultaneous workshop where participants can make miniature gesture drawings of the motors in action, and create large-scale compositions of their tiny gears, cams, and springs.