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00:00:00,877 --> 00:00:02,544
[Corey] Is this
2,000-year-old lump
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00:00:02,578 --> 00:00:04,579
of corroded metal
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00:00:04,614 --> 00:00:06,515
the world's oldest
analog computer?
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[Tamar] There are over
30 gears inside
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and some gears
have up to 65 teeth on them.
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[Corey]
Could this world war two bomb
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really have been piloted
by pigeons?
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[Sascha] If you are worried
about pigeons
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going to the bathroom
on your car,
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now you've got a pigeon piloting
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a thousand-pound bomb.
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[Corey] And how can this
ancient Roman cup
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change color?
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[Andrew]
It's not an optical illusion.
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It really does change color
from red to green.
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[Corey]
These are the most remarkable
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and mysterious objects on Earth,
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hidden away in museums,
laboratories,
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and storage rooms.
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Now, new research and technology
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can get under their skin
like never before.
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We can rebuild them,
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pull them apart...
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and zoom in to reveal
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the unbelievable,
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the ancient,
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and the truly bizarre.
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These are the world's
strangest things.
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[suspenseful music playing]
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In a museum in Athens
sits a misshapen lump
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of corroded metal.
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In all
of archaeological history,
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no other object like it
has ever been found.
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It has blown our ideas
of the ancient world
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clean out of the water
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and it's still doing it today.
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[Philip] It's an utterly
extraordinary object.
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There is nothing
remotely like this
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that is that old.
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[Corey] Now, using cutting
edge imaging technology,
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it's been restored
to its original state.
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This is the
Antikythera mechanism,
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a 2,000-year-old machine
just 13 inches tall.
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Inside is an astonishing network
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of interconnected cogs
and dials.
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[Abigail] The level of precision
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of all the different gears
and the mechanisms,
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it's incredible.
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It's almost stultifying.
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[Corey] This is technology
for understanding the heavens
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that's over a thousand years
ahead of its time.
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[Abigail]
It's a portable cosmos.
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[Corey] For 100 years,
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archeologists have been
grappling with its secrets.
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Now, new research
can finally reveal them.
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Who made it?
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Where does it come from?
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How does it work?
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And what exactly is it?
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[suspenseful music playing]
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[Corey] The mystery begins
over 100 years ago,
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40 miles off
the southern tip of Greece.
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[Tamar] It's 1900
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and we're in the island
of Antikythera.
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There are some sponge divers
who take shelter in a cove
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and they go diving
and they discover bronzes
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and marbles, and they realize
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they've stumbled
on an ancient wreck.
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[Corey] Using coins
recovered from the seabed,
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archaeologists date the wreck
to around 60 BCE.
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The incredible hoard
of treasures they find
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hits the headlines.
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The small block
of corroded metal
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barely makes a ripple.
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[Tamar] So local archaeologist
is looking at the finds
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and little piece
actually falls off
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and he notices a cog inside.
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And that's unexpected.
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[Corey] But many
archaeologists believe
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the presence of gears and cogs
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means this is a relatively
modern object
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that's ended up on the wreck
by accident.
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Generally, when you find
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intricate metal objects
like that,
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it could look like
it had just fallen in there.
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[Corey] For 40 years,
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the metal curiosity is ignored.
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It can't be genuine or can it?
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In 1951, it catches
the eye of a scholar
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from Cambridge University.
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[Tamar] Derek de Solla Price,
a physicist,
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begins to study this mechanism
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and he realizes
that actually this is
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an advanced clockwork mechanism.
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[Corey]
Based on a detailed study
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and the presence of some
ancient Greek letters,
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Price makes a radical claim.
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This is not modern.
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It really is 2,000 years old.
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It's an extraordinary theory.
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[Abigail]
It's almost inconceivable
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that this kind of object
could have been made
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in the ancient world.
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[Corey] Price analyzes
other fragments
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and further faint characters
that are barely visible.
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And he makes an even more
astonishing claim.
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It's a celestial computer.
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[Philip] When he suggested this,
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it was considered outrageous.
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Nothing like this was known
or thought to be possible
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from that period of history.
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[Corey] 20 years later,
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Price destroys
any remaining doubts.
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He uses a combination
of x-rays and gamma rays
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to peer through
millennia of corrosion.
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What he finds
is even more astonishing
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than his most
outlandish suggestions.
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[Tamar] You can see that
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there are over 30 gears inside.
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Some of these are made
of flat sheet bronze
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and some of the gears
have up to 65 teeth on them.
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The complexity of that
was unexpected.
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[Corey] And
in the last few years,
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our understanding
of the Antikythera mechanism
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has been transformed
by new research.
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Experts ship in a cutting edge
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3D x-ray tomographic scanner
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with a resolution far beyond
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anything Price has in the 1970s.
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[Philip]
Tomography basically means
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you take a series of slices
that you can see
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through the device
that you can see
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- buried structures.
- [Corey] And it turns out
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that Price barely scratched
the surface.
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[Philip]
We now know that there are
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37 or 38 of these gears involved
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in making the movement
of this device.
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[Corey]
The scans reveal a machine
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vastly more complex
than Price imagined.
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And in the last decade,
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computerized image
analysis of these scans
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has resolved buried writing,
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writing that hasn't been seen
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by a human eye for 2, 000 years.
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[Abigail] The inscriptions
not only fill in
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missing pieces
that don't survive,
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but they also give us
a much greater idea
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of how this was used.
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[Corey]
Experts are even able to read
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parts of an instruction manual
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that explain
what the mechanism is.
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Price has been right all along.
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[Philip] What this device
is basically designed to do
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is to show you the positions
of the celestial bodies.
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So that's the five planets,
the sun, and the moon
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at any point in the year.
Five planets
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because that was all
that were known at the time,
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so it was Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
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[suspenseful music playing]
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[Corey] This is what
experts now believe
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the Antikythera mechanism
originally looked like.
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It can predict the positions
of the sun, moon, and planets
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years into the future.
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No other clockwork celestial
calendar will appear
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until 1348, 1,400 years later.
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And that one is like a toy
in comparison.
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Because this isn't just
the world's first known
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analog computer,
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it's also
extraordinarily accurate.
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How did its creator build in
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such astonishing precision
using technology
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we didn't even know existed
2,000 years ago?
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[suspenseful music playing]
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[suspenseful music playing]
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[Corey] How does this
2,000-year-old device
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accurately predict the movements
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of our solar system?
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It was originally housed
in a wooden case
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about the size
of a shallow shoe box.
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The mechanism inside is driven
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by complicated combinations
of gear sets,
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including a spur gear
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designed to turn
the rotary system 90 degrees,
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technology that isn't seen again
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until the middle ages,
1,400 years later.
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[Philip]
On the front, there's a dial
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that shows 365 days of the year.
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And if you turn the handle
of the device,
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the pointers that represent
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the different celestial bodies,
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the planets and so forth,
move around to show you
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where they would be in the sky
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at any day during the year.
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But also throughout
different years
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because, you know,
the outer planets
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take much more longer
than a year
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to complete their orbit.
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[Corey] There are separate
pointers for the sun,
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Mars, Venus, Jupiter,
Mercury, Saturn, and the moon.
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Each dial and clock face
serves a unique purpose,
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such as counting down
to athletic games
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like the Olympics,
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00:09:54,603 --> 00:09:59,040
or indicating which sign
of the zodiac the sun is in,
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while tables record
annual events
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like the summer
and winter solstices.
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[Philip] It captures
with great accuracy
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throughout the entire year.
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You know,
the fine details of the...
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For example,
the trajectory of the moon.
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[Corey] The tomographic scans
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revealed that the moon pointer
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has a tiny rotating moon
on its end.
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Experts believe it was painted
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half white and half black.
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[Philip] You see the little ball
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that represented
the moon rotates
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00:10:31,707 --> 00:10:35,476
so that you can see the
different phases of the moon.
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[Corey] Experts also notice
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00:10:36,712 --> 00:10:38,413
that the speed
of the moon pointer
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changes as it turns.
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But it's not a mistake.
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It's genius.
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[Maggie] If you go outside
and measure the moon
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as it passes through the sky,
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00:10:52,461 --> 00:10:55,463
it seems to speed up
and slow down.
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00:10:55,497 --> 00:10:58,366
This is because the moon
is going around the Earth,
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00:10:58,400 --> 00:10:59,634
not in a circular orbit,
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00:10:59,668 --> 00:11:01,436
but in what we call an ellipse,
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00:11:01,470 --> 00:11:03,838
a squashed circle.
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00:11:03,872 --> 00:11:07,241
So, when the moon
is closer to the Earth,
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00:11:07,276 --> 00:11:08,643
it seems to speed up.
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00:11:08,677 --> 00:11:10,445
And when the moon is further
away from the Earth,
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00:11:10,479 --> 00:11:12,613
it seems to slow down.
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00:11:12,648 --> 00:11:14,515
[Philip] It's an incredibly
difficult thing
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00:11:14,550 --> 00:11:16,684
to realize with circular gears,
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00:11:16,719 --> 00:11:19,620
but there's a mechanism
for doing that.
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00:11:19,655 --> 00:11:21,889
[Corey] The changing speed
of the moon pointer works
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00:11:21,924 --> 00:11:24,392
using two gears
slightly out of alignment
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00:11:24,426 --> 00:11:26,394
with each other.
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00:11:26,428 --> 00:11:27,562
The drive gear has a peg
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00:11:27,596 --> 00:11:30,832
that fits in a slot
on the moon gear.
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00:11:30,866 --> 00:11:32,600
As it goes around, it's fastest
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00:11:32,634 --> 00:11:35,770
when the peg is at either end
of the slot,
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00:11:35,804 --> 00:11:39,774
but slows down as the peg
slides along the slot.
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00:11:39,808 --> 00:11:41,609
[Philip] The kind of precision
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00:11:41,643 --> 00:11:43,411
with which you had
to make these gears
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00:11:43,445 --> 00:11:45,580
was extraordinary.
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00:11:45,614 --> 00:11:48,349
[Corey] Research
in the last 15 years reveals
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00:11:48,383 --> 00:11:49,784
that the Antikythera mechanism
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00:11:49,818 --> 00:11:53,521
can even predict solar eclipses.
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[Maggie] The mechanism
isn't just extraordinary
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00:11:55,424 --> 00:11:56,657
because it's complex.
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00:11:56,692 --> 00:11:58,760
But it condenses
all the knowledge
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00:11:58,794 --> 00:12:03,664
of Greek astronomy into one
very small convenient box.
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00:12:03,699 --> 00:12:06,033
It is quite breathtaking.
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00:12:07,636 --> 00:12:10,738
It's the universe in a box.
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00:12:10,773 --> 00:12:12,673
[Corey]
No other machine like this
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00:12:12,708 --> 00:12:16,377
will appear for another
1,400 years.
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00:12:16,411 --> 00:12:19,647
Its inventor must be a genius.
260
00:12:19,681 --> 00:12:21,349
So who is it?
261
00:12:21,383 --> 00:12:24,185
[dramatic music playing]
262
00:12:24,219 --> 00:12:25,620
[Philip]
One of the first people that
263
00:12:25,654 --> 00:12:28,289
one might think of
from this period
264
00:12:28,323 --> 00:12:30,725
is Archimedes.
265
00:12:30,759 --> 00:12:32,794
Archimedes was not just someone
266
00:12:32,828 --> 00:12:36,230
who was incredibly
knowledgeable about
267
00:12:36,265 --> 00:12:37,598
how the world worked
268
00:12:37,633 --> 00:12:40,501
and about the physics
of the heavens.
269
00:12:40,536 --> 00:12:42,503
He was also an inventor.
270
00:12:42,538 --> 00:12:45,306
[Corey] Archimedes creates
large war machines
271
00:12:45,340 --> 00:12:48,543
with levers and pulleys.
272
00:12:48,577 --> 00:12:49,844
He designs intricate devices
273
00:12:49,878 --> 00:12:52,947
such as the world's
first odometer,
274
00:12:52,981 --> 00:12:57,385
a portable machine
for measuring distance.
275
00:12:57,419 --> 00:12:59,453
And the Archimedes screw,
276
00:12:59,488 --> 00:13:03,124
a water pump still used
across the world today.
277
00:13:05,561 --> 00:13:07,428
[Abigail] He was really
the first port of call
278
00:13:07,462 --> 00:13:09,530
when people thought
who could have invented
279
00:13:09,565 --> 00:13:10,865
this incredible object,
280
00:13:10,899 --> 00:13:14,569
who could have encapsulated
so many different aspects
281
00:13:14,603 --> 00:13:16,571
of Greek science into one thing,
282
00:13:16,605 --> 00:13:19,707
into one place.
283
00:13:19,741 --> 00:13:23,778
[Corey] So, is this another
of Archimedes' inventions?
284
00:13:23,812 --> 00:13:26,447
There's one problem
with this theory.
285
00:13:26,481 --> 00:13:28,583
The creator
of the Antikythera mechanism
286
00:13:28,617 --> 00:13:32,653
knows that the moon speed
seems to vary.
287
00:13:32,688 --> 00:13:34,455
[Maggie]
The first person we know of
288
00:13:34,489 --> 00:13:36,357
that was aware
of the apparent speeding up
289
00:13:36,391 --> 00:13:37,992
and slowing down of the moon
290
00:13:38,026 --> 00:13:43,231
was Hipparchus of Nicaea
around 170 BC.
291
00:13:43,265 --> 00:13:44,532
[Corey] By that time,
292
00:13:44,566 --> 00:13:48,035
Archimedes has been dead
for more than 40 years.
293
00:13:51,473 --> 00:13:55,142
So if not the great
Archimedes, who else?
294
00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:00,414
Inscriptions on one
of the dials provide
295
00:14:00,449 --> 00:14:03,484
a tantalizing clue.
296
00:14:03,518 --> 00:14:04,886
[Abigail]
One set of dials tells about
297
00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,289
the Olympic Games,
which we all might expect,
298
00:14:08,323 --> 00:14:10,091
but also lesser known
299
00:14:10,125 --> 00:14:14,929
really more locally based
festivals like the Halia.
300
00:14:15,764 --> 00:14:17,732
[Corey]
The Halia, a regional games
301
00:14:17,766 --> 00:14:21,636
that only take place
on the Island of Rhodes.
302
00:14:21,670 --> 00:14:23,371
[Tamar] It's thought that
this might be
303
00:14:23,405 --> 00:14:25,439
a special calling card
as if to say,
304
00:14:25,474 --> 00:14:27,008
"Made in Rhodes,"
305
00:14:27,042 --> 00:14:29,577
because it's a very
localized game.
306
00:14:29,611 --> 00:14:32,346
[Abigail] And Rhodes
had a long standing tradition
307
00:14:32,381 --> 00:14:34,649
of metalworking, most famously,
308
00:14:34,683 --> 00:14:35,850
the Colossus of Rhodes
309
00:14:35,884 --> 00:14:37,685
which was a massive
bronze statue
310
00:14:37,719 --> 00:14:40,621
that framed the entrance
to the harbor.
311
00:14:40,656 --> 00:14:43,524
[Corey] So if the mechanism
came from Rhodes,
312
00:14:43,558 --> 00:14:46,527
did its creator as well?
313
00:14:46,561 --> 00:14:49,330
A prime candidate
is the man who discovers
314
00:14:49,364 --> 00:14:51,465
the changing speed of the moon,
315
00:14:51,500 --> 00:14:53,701
Hipparchus.
316
00:14:53,735 --> 00:14:55,670
[Philip] Hipparchus lived
317
00:14:55,704 --> 00:14:56,604
and worked around
the right time,
318
00:14:56,638 --> 00:14:59,573
about 170 BC
and are in the right place,
319
00:14:59,608 --> 00:15:01,409
he worked in Rhodes.
320
00:15:01,443 --> 00:15:03,945
And it's thought
to be likely that
321
00:15:03,979 --> 00:15:06,714
that's where this device
came from.
322
00:15:06,748 --> 00:15:09,383
[Corey] It could be Hipparchus
323
00:15:09,418 --> 00:15:10,618
but he died 60 years
324
00:15:10,652 --> 00:15:13,921
before the Antikythera
ship sinks,
325
00:15:13,956 --> 00:15:17,391
meaning the mechanism
would be very old already
326
00:15:17,426 --> 00:15:19,060
when it's lost.
327
00:15:20,529 --> 00:15:23,531
And there is
one other candidate.
328
00:15:23,565 --> 00:15:25,466
He also lived in Rhodes
329
00:15:25,500 --> 00:15:28,269
and at exactly the right time...
330
00:15:29,471 --> 00:15:32,473
the astronomer, Posidonius.
331
00:15:34,509 --> 00:15:36,677
[Philip]
One very enticing reason
332
00:15:36,712 --> 00:15:37,745
why it's thought that he might
333
00:15:37,779 --> 00:15:39,580
have had something to do
with this device
334
00:15:39,614 --> 00:15:41,549
is that at one stage
he was visited
335
00:15:41,583 --> 00:15:44,585
by the Roman writer, Cicero
336
00:15:44,619 --> 00:15:45,686
who wrote about it in his diary.
337
00:15:45,721 --> 00:15:49,023
And Cicero said that
this man Posidonius
338
00:15:49,057 --> 00:15:51,692
told him about a device
that he'd made
339
00:15:51,727 --> 00:15:56,430
to represent the motions
of the planets.
340
00:15:56,464 --> 00:15:59,300
[Corey] Archimedes, Hipparchus,
341
00:15:59,334 --> 00:16:01,402
or Posidonius,
342
00:16:01,436 --> 00:16:03,738
we may never know for sure.
343
00:16:03,772 --> 00:16:07,375
Whoever makes
it is clearly a genius
344
00:16:07,409 --> 00:16:09,577
because he envisions
the universe
345
00:16:09,611 --> 00:16:12,480
as a clockwork mechanism.
346
00:16:12,514 --> 00:16:15,483
[Philip] It suggests
a kind of thinking
347
00:16:15,517 --> 00:16:17,685
that really we don't get
familiar with
348
00:16:17,719 --> 00:16:20,521
until the age of Newton,
mechanical age,
349
00:16:20,555 --> 00:16:23,524
the idea that you can think
about the universe
350
00:16:23,558 --> 00:16:27,294
as a kind of clockwork system
as a mechanical device.
351
00:16:27,329 --> 00:16:30,331
Clearly someone at that time
352
00:16:30,365 --> 00:16:31,532
in ancient Greece
353
00:16:31,566 --> 00:16:33,567
already was thinking
354
00:16:33,602 --> 00:16:36,504
that perhaps nature works
that way.
355
00:16:36,538 --> 00:16:38,539
[Corey] If not for a group
of sponge divers
356
00:16:38,573 --> 00:16:40,341
100 years ago,
357
00:16:40,375 --> 00:16:42,443
the secrets of this
strange thing
358
00:16:42,477 --> 00:16:43,611
might have remained lost
359
00:16:43,645 --> 00:16:45,590
at the bottom of the Aegean
forever.
360
00:16:45,614 --> 00:16:49,116
[suspense music playing]
361
00:17:00,862 --> 00:17:03,397
[Corey] At the National Museum
of American History
362
00:17:03,432 --> 00:17:04,765
in Washington, DC,
363
00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:09,637
is the nose cone
of a World War II bomb,
364
00:17:09,671 --> 00:17:13,841
but this is no ordinary bomb.
365
00:17:13,875 --> 00:17:19,046
On the front are tiny windows
for its tiny pilots.
366
00:17:19,081 --> 00:17:20,815
[Tim] The aim of this technology
367
00:17:20,849 --> 00:17:25,186
was to guide
a 1,000-pound bomb...
368
00:17:27,422 --> 00:17:29,790
with a pigeon.
369
00:17:29,825 --> 00:17:33,427
[Corey] Now, using state
of the art digital imaging...
370
00:17:35,430 --> 00:17:39,333
we can reveal it
in all its glory.
371
00:17:39,367 --> 00:17:41,535
This is the pigeon bomb.
372
00:17:41,570 --> 00:17:42,837
[Sascha] In some ways,
it might be
373
00:17:42,871 --> 00:17:46,674
one of the smarter bombs
that we've ever invented.
374
00:17:46,708 --> 00:17:48,476
[Corey] Measuring 25 inches long
375
00:17:48,510 --> 00:17:50,544
and 23 inches wide,
376
00:17:50,579 --> 00:17:52,646
it's just large enough
to carry three
377
00:17:52,681 --> 00:17:56,050
tiny kamikaze pilots.
378
00:17:56,084 --> 00:18:00,488
Could this bizarre contraption
really work?
379
00:18:00,522 --> 00:18:02,723
Who came up with it?
380
00:18:02,757 --> 00:18:04,825
And why on Earth
does anyone need
381
00:18:04,860 --> 00:18:08,229
a pigeon-guided bomb
in the first place?
382
00:18:08,263 --> 00:18:10,264
[suspense music playing]
383
00:18:14,336 --> 00:18:17,371
[suspenseful music playing]
384
00:18:17,873 --> 00:18:20,341
[Corey] This is a bomb
385
00:18:20,375 --> 00:18:23,611
designed to be flown
by a pigeon.
386
00:18:23,645 --> 00:18:26,046
Why would anyone do that?
387
00:18:26,081 --> 00:18:29,917
Most of the history
of modern aerial bombing
388
00:18:29,951 --> 00:18:34,021
has been a history of bombs
missing their targets.
389
00:18:35,757 --> 00:18:40,461
And now if you're thinking
about naval bombing,
390
00:18:40,495 --> 00:18:43,297
it becomes an even
dicier proposition
391
00:18:43,331 --> 00:18:45,266
because you're trying to drop
392
00:18:45,300 --> 00:18:46,700
a large piece of metal
393
00:18:46,735 --> 00:18:49,436
unguided onto a moving object
394
00:18:49,471 --> 00:18:51,305
that is going to be pretty small
395
00:18:51,339 --> 00:18:53,574
relative to where you are.
396
00:18:53,608 --> 00:18:56,443
[Corey] It's estimated
that during World War II,
397
00:18:56,478 --> 00:19:00,214
as few as one percent of bombs
dropped on ships
398
00:19:00,248 --> 00:19:02,016
hit their targets.
399
00:19:02,717 --> 00:19:03,918
[explosion]
400
00:19:03,952 --> 00:19:06,387
[Corey] The need for more
accurate bombing strategies
401
00:19:06,421 --> 00:19:08,455
becomes top priority.
402
00:19:09,824 --> 00:19:12,293
There's a couple of different
possible solutions.
403
00:19:12,327 --> 00:19:13,627
One is, use torpedoes,
404
00:19:13,662 --> 00:19:15,529
drop torpedoes from planes
because torpedoes
405
00:19:15,564 --> 00:19:18,532
are actually meant to hit ships.
406
00:19:18,567 --> 00:19:21,735
Another is, use a guidance
system of some sort,
407
00:19:21,770 --> 00:19:23,671
something to make
these dumb bombs
408
00:19:23,705 --> 00:19:25,372
at least a little bit smarter.
409
00:19:27,976 --> 00:19:29,677
[Corey] As an alternative
to simply dropping a bomb
410
00:19:29,711 --> 00:19:32,479
and hoping it would plummet
to its target,
411
00:19:32,514 --> 00:19:36,383
both sides developed
glide bombs.
412
00:19:36,418 --> 00:19:38,485
[Tim]
The intent of the glide bomb
413
00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:40,087
is that there's enough control,
414
00:19:40,121 --> 00:19:41,722
so as opposed to just
doing a free fall,
415
00:19:41,756 --> 00:19:43,691
you can do some adjustments
416
00:19:43,725 --> 00:19:45,459
and increase the probability
417
00:19:45,493 --> 00:19:49,630
that you're gonna hit
your target.
418
00:19:49,664 --> 00:19:51,932
[Sascha]
The Germans have some success
419
00:19:51,967 --> 00:19:54,435
with the first glide bomb,
the Fritz X.
420
00:19:54,469 --> 00:19:57,471
[suspense music playing]
421
00:20:00,675 --> 00:20:03,577
[Sascha] However,
the Fritz X has a weakness,
422
00:20:03,612 --> 00:20:04,845
it's radio-controlled.
423
00:20:04,879 --> 00:20:06,847
And this creates
two potential problems.
424
00:20:06,881 --> 00:20:10,551
Number one, you have to keep
the plane that launched it
425
00:20:10,585 --> 00:20:12,987
flying at the same time
so it can steer it
426
00:20:13,021 --> 00:20:15,489
and that puts the plane
and its crew in danger.
427
00:20:15,523 --> 00:20:18,459
And two, as a radio-guided bomb,
428
00:20:18,493 --> 00:20:20,694
the radio signal can be jammed
429
00:20:20,729 --> 00:20:22,630
and later on in the war,
430
00:20:22,664 --> 00:20:24,431
the Allies were able to jam
that signal
431
00:20:24,466 --> 00:20:26,233
quite successfully.
432
00:20:27,535 --> 00:20:29,169
[Corey] The perfect glide bomb
433
00:20:29,204 --> 00:20:31,739
would not only
need to be unjammable,
434
00:20:31,773 --> 00:20:34,541
it would also need
to be autonomous,
435
00:20:34,576 --> 00:20:36,655
able to guide itself to a target
436
00:20:36,679 --> 00:20:39,980
without the need
for external control.
437
00:20:40,982 --> 00:20:43,317
[Sascha] So how do you create
a guided bomb
438
00:20:43,351 --> 00:20:44,652
without radio guidance?
439
00:20:44,686 --> 00:20:46,620
Well, you wanna put
the guidance package
440
00:20:46,655 --> 00:20:48,455
inside the bomb itself
441
00:20:48,490 --> 00:20:50,391
and make something
that's not dependent
442
00:20:50,425 --> 00:20:53,494
upon a radio signal.
443
00:20:53,528 --> 00:20:54,828
Hence, the pigeon bomb.
444
00:20:54,863 --> 00:21:00,034
[Corey] But of all the animals
in the world, why pigeons?
445
00:21:00,669 --> 00:21:02,436
[suspense music playing]
446
00:21:02,470 --> 00:21:03,804
[Philip] Pigeons
have been useful to us
447
00:21:03,838 --> 00:21:06,740
for sending messages
for centuries
448
00:21:06,775 --> 00:21:09,543
because they have
this incredible ability
449
00:21:09,577 --> 00:21:12,780
to navigate in particular
to home to navigate back
450
00:21:12,814 --> 00:21:15,282
from where they were
sent out from.
451
00:21:15,317 --> 00:21:16,483
And so they've been used
452
00:21:16,518 --> 00:21:19,353
for this purpose for millennia.
453
00:21:21,389 --> 00:21:23,290
The ancient Egyptians use them.
454
00:21:23,325 --> 00:21:26,293
The ancient Greeks use them.
455
00:21:27,429 --> 00:21:29,363
In fact, one of the messages
456
00:21:29,397 --> 00:21:31,565
the Greek trusted to pigeons
457
00:21:31,599 --> 00:21:33,534
was the results of the Olympics.
458
00:21:33,568 --> 00:21:36,003
[suspense music playing]
459
00:21:38,873 --> 00:21:39,840
[Sascha] The use
of pigeons in warfare
460
00:21:39,874 --> 00:21:42,776
really came into its own
in the modern age.
461
00:21:42,811 --> 00:21:45,512
World War I,
half a million pigeons
462
00:21:45,547 --> 00:21:48,349
were used to send messages
back and forth.
463
00:21:50,618 --> 00:21:52,853
And one pigeon
even became a hero.
464
00:21:52,887 --> 00:21:55,489
This was a pigeon
that served the French
465
00:21:55,523 --> 00:21:57,591
and was named Cher Ami,
466
00:21:57,625 --> 00:21:59,026
and it delivered its message
467
00:21:59,060 --> 00:22:00,728
despite the fact
that it lost an eye
468
00:22:00,762 --> 00:22:02,763
and was severely wounded
in the process.
469
00:22:02,797 --> 00:22:05,532
It was actually given
a military commendation
470
00:22:05,567 --> 00:22:08,435
for its heroic service
in wartime.
471
00:22:09,904 --> 00:22:12,740
Pigeons also saw
very important uses
472
00:22:12,774 --> 00:22:14,575
in the Second World War.
473
00:22:14,609 --> 00:22:17,444
The Allies dropped
homing pigeons
474
00:22:17,479 --> 00:22:19,680
with requests for information
475
00:22:19,714 --> 00:22:21,849
over German-occupied territory,
476
00:22:21,883 --> 00:22:23,884
and the pigeons
had little cards on them
477
00:22:23,918 --> 00:22:26,620
that resistance fighters
could use,
478
00:22:26,654 --> 00:22:28,689
fill out the information,
479
00:22:28,723 --> 00:22:30,691
put it back in the pigeon,
and then the pigeon of course
480
00:22:30,725 --> 00:22:33,127
would fly straight home.
481
00:22:36,865 --> 00:22:39,666
[Corey] And there is one
other pigeon characteristic
482
00:22:39,701 --> 00:22:40,734
that would be essential
483
00:22:40,769 --> 00:22:44,071
to becoming a bomb
guidance system.
484
00:22:45,673 --> 00:22:48,642
[Philip] Birds generally
are actually a lot smarter
485
00:22:48,676 --> 00:22:50,744
in many ways
that they're given credit for,
486
00:22:50,779 --> 00:22:52,913
you know, this notion
of birdbrain is really unfair.
487
00:22:52,947 --> 00:22:57,384
But even among birds, pigeons
are among the smartest.
488
00:22:59,888 --> 00:23:04,324
Pigeons are very good
it seems at learning a task.
489
00:23:06,461 --> 00:23:07,561
[Corey] So pigeon pilots
490
00:23:07,595 --> 00:23:10,431
do make a strange sort of sense.
491
00:23:10,465 --> 00:23:12,933
But that still leaves
one big question.
492
00:23:13,935 --> 00:23:18,439
How on Earth do you teach them
to fly this bomb?
493
00:23:22,677 --> 00:23:25,279
[suspenseful music playing]
494
00:23:25,313 --> 00:23:26,613
[Corey] The pigeon bomb,
495
00:23:26,648 --> 00:23:28,449
one of the strangest inventions
496
00:23:28,483 --> 00:23:30,884
in the history of warfare.
497
00:23:30,919 --> 00:23:36,023
Who could have come up
with such a bizarre idea?
498
00:23:38,393 --> 00:23:42,496
Enter pigeon fancier,
BF Skinner.
499
00:23:42,530 --> 00:23:44,798
[Sascha] BF Skinner
is one of the fathers
500
00:23:44,833 --> 00:23:47,468
of modern psychology
and he's particularly famous
501
00:23:47,502 --> 00:23:50,070
for developing various methods
502
00:23:50,104 --> 00:23:53,674
of what we now call
behavior psychology.
503
00:23:53,708 --> 00:23:56,610
Really trying to understand
the basic impulses
504
00:23:56,644 --> 00:23:59,379
by which
thinking creatures operate,
505
00:23:59,414 --> 00:24:02,316
how they respond to stimuli.
506
00:24:02,350 --> 00:24:05,663
[Philip] This idea
that you can get a response
507
00:24:05,687 --> 00:24:07,855
according to some
particular stimulus,
508
00:24:07,889 --> 00:24:11,358
that goes back at least
to the experiments
509
00:24:11,392 --> 00:24:14,928
that Pavlov did,
famously with dogs.
510
00:24:14,963 --> 00:24:18,565
He found that, you know,
dogs would start to salivate
511
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,535
if they were shown food.
512
00:24:21,569 --> 00:24:24,571
[Sascha] Pavlov was much
more interested in very,
513
00:24:24,606 --> 00:24:26,707
very simple responses to stimuli
514
00:24:26,741 --> 00:24:28,542
and physical responses
515
00:24:28,576 --> 00:24:30,811
whereas Skinner is taking it
a bit farther.
516
00:24:30,845 --> 00:24:32,713
He's actually trying to,
in some ways,
517
00:24:32,747 --> 00:24:35,382
control the way you respond
518
00:24:35,416 --> 00:24:39,620
consciously to various signals.
519
00:24:39,654 --> 00:24:42,289
[Philip] Skinner devised
this apparatus.
520
00:24:42,323 --> 00:24:43,657
It was really just a box.
521
00:24:43,691 --> 00:24:46,460
It's often now called
a Skinner Box.
522
00:24:46,494 --> 00:24:49,363
So the animal is put inside it
523
00:24:49,397 --> 00:24:51,899
and then given
a particular stimulus,
524
00:24:51,933 --> 00:24:57,538
and once it happens to make
the response you're after,
525
00:24:57,572 --> 00:25:02,309
then the animal gets a reward,
food for example.
526
00:25:02,343 --> 00:25:03,877
And quite quickly,
527
00:25:03,912 --> 00:25:07,614
relatively intelligent
creatures like pigeons
528
00:25:07,649 --> 00:25:09,516
will figure out what it is
529
00:25:09,551 --> 00:25:10,817
that's being expected of them.
530
00:25:10,852 --> 00:25:13,287
They will remember the behavior
531
00:25:13,321 --> 00:25:15,722
that created the reward
532
00:25:15,757 --> 00:25:19,026
and they'll do it again
and again and again.
533
00:25:20,228 --> 00:25:22,563
[Corey] In initial tests,
the pigeons respond
534
00:25:22,597 --> 00:25:25,566
even better than expected.
535
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:28,669
[Philip] Skinner found that
you can actually train pigeons
536
00:25:28,703 --> 00:25:31,438
to do some pretty
complicated things,
537
00:25:31,472 --> 00:25:33,440
things that certainly
you'd never find birds
538
00:25:33,474 --> 00:25:36,510
doing normally. So for example,
539
00:25:36,544 --> 00:25:38,612
he trained them
to play ping pong.
540
00:25:38,646 --> 00:25:42,149
[playful music playing]
541
00:25:44,652 --> 00:25:45,752
[Corey]
Encouraged by the results
542
00:25:45,787 --> 00:25:48,622
of his pigeon training
experiments,
543
00:25:48,656 --> 00:25:49,623
Skinner goes to the government
544
00:25:49,657 --> 00:25:52,759
seeking money
to develop his pigeon bomb.
545
00:25:53,695 --> 00:25:56,897
[Sascha] BF Skinner
comes to the US military
546
00:25:56,931 --> 00:25:59,266
with what on the surface
would seem like
547
00:25:59,300 --> 00:26:01,501
an utterly absurd idea.
548
00:26:01,536 --> 00:26:03,437
But you have to understand
that World War II
549
00:26:03,471 --> 00:26:05,339
is a time
of great experimentation
550
00:26:05,373 --> 00:26:07,441
and it is hardly
the craziest idea
551
00:26:07,475 --> 00:26:08,976
that is tried out.
552
00:26:09,010 --> 00:26:13,413
Amongst those crazy ideas
are bats carrying napalm.
553
00:26:13,448 --> 00:26:14,615
And my personal favorite
554
00:26:14,649 --> 00:26:18,685
which was
the Soviet-trained dogs
555
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,955
carrying anti-tank bombs.
556
00:26:21,990 --> 00:26:26,393
They were trained to climb
underneath the German tanks
557
00:26:26,427 --> 00:26:28,395
to set off their bombs.
558
00:26:28,429 --> 00:26:31,298
Just one tiny miscalculation,
559
00:26:31,332 --> 00:26:33,767
they were trained
on Russian tanks
560
00:26:33,801 --> 00:26:34,835
so as soon as these dogs
were let loose,
561
00:26:34,869 --> 00:26:36,703
the first thing they did
with their bombs was dive
562
00:26:36,738 --> 00:26:38,772
right under the Russian tanks
so not...
563
00:26:38,806 --> 00:26:42,309
not going as according to plan
with the whole bomb dog thing.
564
00:26:43,645 --> 00:26:46,046
[Corey] Using animals
as bomb delivery systems
565
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,281
clearly has a poor track record.
566
00:26:49,417 --> 00:26:51,551
But BF Skinner is convinced
567
00:26:51,586 --> 00:26:53,353
his pigeon bomb concept
568
00:26:53,388 --> 00:26:56,757
is... Well, bombproof.
569
00:26:56,791 --> 00:26:59,426
But how would it actually work?
570
00:26:59,460 --> 00:27:02,996
[suspense music playing]
571
00:27:04,565 --> 00:27:07,167
[Tim] The idea was
to take a glide bomb
572
00:27:07,201 --> 00:27:08,402
and at the front
573
00:27:08,436 --> 00:27:10,804
add a pressure-sealed nose cone
574
00:27:10,838 --> 00:27:14,241
where the pigeon
could actually be mounted.
575
00:27:15,443 --> 00:27:16,710
[Sascha] There's a little screen
576
00:27:16,744 --> 00:27:19,012
in front of the pigeon
onto which
577
00:27:19,047 --> 00:27:22,916
an image of their target
is being projected,
578
00:27:22,950 --> 00:27:27,354
and the pigeon is trained
to peck at the image,
579
00:27:27,388 --> 00:27:29,389
and then the steering system
580
00:27:29,424 --> 00:27:31,758
responds
to the pigeons movements
581
00:27:31,793 --> 00:27:34,961
and aims the bomb at the target.
582
00:27:34,996 --> 00:27:37,264
[Corey] To minimize
the chance of one pigeon
583
00:27:37,298 --> 00:27:38,865
guiding the bomb off course,
584
00:27:38,900 --> 00:27:42,335
each bomb would carry
three pigeon pilots.
585
00:27:43,705 --> 00:27:45,605
[Tim] The three pigeons
would actually operate
586
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,809
so that the majority vote
would always end up
587
00:27:48,843 --> 00:27:52,079
controlling the trajectory
of the glide bomb.
588
00:27:54,449 --> 00:27:56,717
[Corey] Understandably,
the idea of putting
589
00:27:56,751 --> 00:27:58,752
a high explosive bomb
under the control
590
00:27:58,786 --> 00:28:02,289
of three pigeons does not
initially go down well
591
00:28:02,323 --> 00:28:04,624
with the US military.
592
00:28:04,659 --> 00:28:08,295
But Skinner is adamant
it can work.
593
00:28:09,430 --> 00:28:10,797
[Sascha] So in 1943,
594
00:28:10,832 --> 00:28:15,969
Skinner receives $25,000
to explore his idea,
595
00:28:16,003 --> 00:28:19,706
which was a princely sum
at the time.
596
00:28:19,741 --> 00:28:21,508
[Corey] Skinner is given
basic details
597
00:28:21,542 --> 00:28:23,310
of the glide bomb.
598
00:28:23,344 --> 00:28:25,512
It's known as a Pelican.
599
00:28:25,546 --> 00:28:28,582
His experiment is given
the perfect code name.
600
00:28:28,616 --> 00:28:30,717
Project Pigeon.
601
00:28:31,786 --> 00:28:34,454
Having settled on the idea
of projecting the image
602
00:28:34,489 --> 00:28:36,823
from a lens
onto a tilting screen
603
00:28:36,858 --> 00:28:39,693
that could sense
where the bird was pecking,
604
00:28:39,727 --> 00:28:43,463
Skinner begins testing them
on realistic images,
605
00:28:44,799 --> 00:28:48,034
and the results are startling.
606
00:28:48,069 --> 00:28:50,637
[Sascha] When someone
describes the pigeon bomb to you,
607
00:28:50,671 --> 00:28:52,606
it just sounds ludicrous.
608
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,342
But when you see footage
of these pigeons
609
00:28:55,376 --> 00:28:58,478
pecking at the image of the ship
610
00:28:58,513 --> 00:28:59,746
projected on the screen
in front of you,
611
00:28:59,781 --> 00:29:02,382
you see, no,
this is actually working.
612
00:29:03,618 --> 00:29:05,552
[Corey] But as far as we know,
the pigeon bomb
613
00:29:05,586 --> 00:29:08,021
never takes flight.
614
00:29:09,357 --> 00:29:12,025
So what goes wrong?
615
00:29:19,033 --> 00:29:24,538
[Corey] This is a bomb
piloted by pigeons.
616
00:29:24,572 --> 00:29:26,807
Its creator,
BF Skinner is convinced
617
00:29:26,841 --> 00:29:31,044
it's a viable weapon
in the war against the Nazis.
618
00:29:32,613 --> 00:29:34,915
[Sascha] In 1944,
Skinner turns up
619
00:29:34,949 --> 00:29:39,986
to demonstrate his solution
to a team of scientists
620
00:29:40,021 --> 00:29:41,688
and he's ready to go.
He's got the film,
621
00:29:41,722 --> 00:29:43,857
he's got his little
pigeon pilots,
622
00:29:43,891 --> 00:29:45,759
he's got the mock up
of the capsule,
623
00:29:45,793 --> 00:29:48,295
and it worked.
He has solved the problem.
624
00:29:48,329 --> 00:29:51,398
He has created
an unjammable guidance system,
625
00:29:51,432 --> 00:29:53,900
assuming no one
has breadcrumbs handy.
626
00:29:53,935 --> 00:29:56,536
[Corey] But convincing
the skeptical scientists
627
00:29:56,571 --> 00:29:58,705
proves impossible.
628
00:29:58,739 --> 00:30:00,473
[Tim] In fact, the meeting ended
629
00:30:00,508 --> 00:30:02,442
by someone pulling Skinner aside
630
00:30:02,476 --> 00:30:03,643
and suggesting to him
631
00:30:03,678 --> 00:30:05,512
that he just go out
and get drunk,
632
00:30:05,546 --> 00:30:07,514
which he interpreted accurately
633
00:30:07,548 --> 00:30:10,350
as a very bad sign.
634
00:30:10,384 --> 00:30:11,518
[Corey] Unknown to Skinner,
635
00:30:11,552 --> 00:30:13,353
while he's busy
training pigeons,
636
00:30:13,387 --> 00:30:14,721
a rival project is developing
637
00:30:14,755 --> 00:30:18,592
an alternative solution
to the problem.
638
00:30:18,626 --> 00:30:20,961
Skinner's solution works.
639
00:30:20,995 --> 00:30:23,430
He has the guidance system
all set up.
640
00:30:23,464 --> 00:30:25,665
The problem is by the time
he's perfected it,
641
00:30:25,700 --> 00:30:28,835
the other solution
that was being explored,
642
00:30:28,870 --> 00:30:30,370
the radar guidance system
643
00:30:30,404 --> 00:30:31,771
has also advanced considerably,
644
00:30:31,806 --> 00:30:34,474
and that's the one
that the military goes with,
645
00:30:34,508 --> 00:30:37,744
and they end up
making 2,600 of these bombs,
646
00:30:37,778 --> 00:30:39,713
which are known
as the bat bombs.
647
00:30:39,747 --> 00:30:41,715
And you can say this about
the radar-guided system is,
648
00:30:41,749 --> 00:30:45,118
is there's a lot
less cleanup afterwards.
649
00:30:48,456 --> 00:30:50,757
[Corey] The pigeon bomb
never takes flight.
650
00:30:50,791 --> 00:30:52,626
And despite all that training,
651
00:30:52,660 --> 00:30:54,561
it's brave feathered pilots
652
00:30:54,595 --> 00:30:56,496
are never given the chance
to prove
653
00:30:56,530 --> 00:30:58,565
they have the right stuff.
654
00:30:58,599 --> 00:31:02,068
It's tough being a war pigeon.
655
00:31:08,643 --> 00:31:11,478
In the depths of the
British Museum in London,
656
00:31:11,512 --> 00:31:13,747
is one of the strangest
Roman artifacts
657
00:31:13,781 --> 00:31:15,649
ever discovered.
658
00:31:15,683 --> 00:31:18,652
At first glance,
this 1,700-year-old cup
659
00:31:18,686 --> 00:31:21,288
looks decorative,
660
00:31:21,322 --> 00:31:23,490
but otherwise unremarkable.
661
00:31:24,759 --> 00:31:26,760
Now, carefully reconstructing it
662
00:31:26,794 --> 00:31:30,297
with the latest
digital imaging technology
663
00:31:30,331 --> 00:31:32,699
reveals its secrets,
664
00:31:32,733 --> 00:31:36,269
standing roughly
six and a half inches tall,
665
00:31:36,304 --> 00:31:38,371
this is the Lycurgus Cup.
666
00:31:39,674 --> 00:31:44,477
It's an ancient relic
with a mystifying party trick.
667
00:31:44,512 --> 00:31:46,813
It changes color.
668
00:31:46,847 --> 00:31:49,282
[Andrew] This is such
an incredible artifact.
669
00:31:49,317 --> 00:31:50,884
It's not an optical illusion,
670
00:31:50,918 --> 00:31:52,686
it really does change color
from red to green
671
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:55,388
as you move around in the light.
672
00:31:55,423 --> 00:31:57,457
[Corey] How does it work?
673
00:31:57,491 --> 00:31:59,392
How was it made?
674
00:31:59,427 --> 00:32:02,362
And what exactly is it?
675
00:32:05,599 --> 00:32:07,734
[Mark] The Lycurgus Cup is a cup
676
00:32:07,768 --> 00:32:11,705
from about 1,700 years ago
from around 300 AD,
677
00:32:11,739 --> 00:32:14,374
so late Roman period,
678
00:32:14,408 --> 00:32:15,709
a time when glass technologies
679
00:32:15,743 --> 00:32:18,211
have been fairly
well developed at this point
680
00:32:18,245 --> 00:32:20,580
and getting more complex.
681
00:32:20,614 --> 00:32:22,415
[Corey]
Mythical figures seem to float
682
00:32:22,450 --> 00:32:24,818
above the inner glass chalice.
683
00:32:24,852 --> 00:32:28,221
Archeologists call this
a cage cup.
684
00:32:29,590 --> 00:32:31,725
[Mark] In fact, it's the most
well-preserved cage cup
685
00:32:31,759 --> 00:32:33,860
in the ancient world.
686
00:32:33,894 --> 00:32:36,229
Even in the Roman days
in the Fourth Century,
687
00:32:36,263 --> 00:32:38,631
when this cup was actually
made and used, uh,
688
00:32:38,666 --> 00:32:41,301
this would have been
a rare piece.
689
00:32:44,238 --> 00:32:46,606
[Corey] Microscopic
examination shows the cup
690
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:48,108
and its floating cage
691
00:32:48,142 --> 00:32:51,511
are made from a single
piece of glass.
692
00:32:51,545 --> 00:32:53,613
[Anna] Glass is a really brittle
693
00:32:53,647 --> 00:32:54,881
and breakable material.
694
00:32:54,915 --> 00:32:58,485
So the delicacy involved
is quite incredible.
695
00:33:00,654 --> 00:33:02,322
They would have used tiny tools
696
00:33:02,356 --> 00:33:04,858
to file away very carefully
697
00:33:04,892 --> 00:33:06,526
the areas of glass
that they didn't want.
698
00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:08,661
They actually undercut
the design
699
00:33:08,696 --> 00:33:11,564
so that there's areas
under the person
700
00:33:11,599 --> 00:33:13,666
where there's air gaps
and just little legs
701
00:33:13,701 --> 00:33:16,336
that attach it to the cup.
702
00:33:18,706 --> 00:33:20,874
The terrifying thing about this,
703
00:33:20,908 --> 00:33:22,642
is one slipup or one sneeze
704
00:33:22,676 --> 00:33:24,711
from the person
that was doing this
705
00:33:24,745 --> 00:33:26,613
would have meant
melting the whole thing down
706
00:33:26,647 --> 00:33:28,448
and starting again from scratch.
707
00:33:29,784 --> 00:33:31,584
[Corey]
But it's the glass itself
708
00:33:31,619 --> 00:33:34,320
that is truly spectacular.
709
00:33:34,355 --> 00:33:36,990
[suspenseful music playing]
710
00:33:37,925 --> 00:33:39,626
[Mark] What's remarkable
about this glass
711
00:33:39,660 --> 00:33:40,927
is the fact
that it changes colors
712
00:33:40,961 --> 00:33:44,697
and that I've never seen
outside of this cup.
713
00:33:44,732 --> 00:33:45,732
[Andrew] If you look at the cup
714
00:33:45,766 --> 00:33:47,333
just under normal light,
715
00:33:47,368 --> 00:33:49,202
then the cup appears green.
716
00:33:50,738 --> 00:33:52,772
But if you put the cup
in front of the light,
717
00:33:52,807 --> 00:33:55,508
the light shining through it
appears red.
718
00:33:55,543 --> 00:33:58,645
[suspenseful music playing]
719
00:33:58,679 --> 00:34:00,547
[Mark] No one would have
really seen these things
720
00:34:00,581 --> 00:34:02,749
even in the Roman days
a cup changing color,
721
00:34:02,783 --> 00:34:04,617
it would have been
an extremely rare piece.
722
00:34:04,652 --> 00:34:07,387
Most people would have just
been completely amazed.
723
00:34:09,557 --> 00:34:11,424
[Corey] Possession
of such a unique object
724
00:34:11,459 --> 00:34:14,360
would broadcast
the owner's status.
725
00:34:16,797 --> 00:34:18,364
[Mark] This is the kind of piece
726
00:34:18,399 --> 00:34:19,699
you really wanna show off.
727
00:34:19,733 --> 00:34:21,534
Here you are,
you've built your fancy house,
728
00:34:21,569 --> 00:34:23,636
you have your fancy parties,
but finally,
729
00:34:23,671 --> 00:34:26,439
the sort of center showpiece
would be this cup.
730
00:34:26,474 --> 00:34:29,442
[dramatic music playing]
731
00:34:31,812 --> 00:34:35,215
[Corey] It's known
as dichroic glass,
732
00:34:35,249 --> 00:34:36,850
which means two-colored.
733
00:34:36,884 --> 00:34:40,887
For centuries, its secrets
remained a mystery.
734
00:34:41,989 --> 00:34:46,259
Studying the cup under
a normal microscope reveals...
735
00:34:48,596 --> 00:34:49,829
nothing.
736
00:34:49,864 --> 00:34:54,434
It appears to be
like any other Roman glass.
737
00:34:54,468 --> 00:34:58,238
So how can a 1,700-year-old cup
738
00:34:58,272 --> 00:35:00,406
change color?
739
00:35:04,345 --> 00:35:07,247
[dramatic music playing]
740
00:35:08,415 --> 00:35:11,384
[Corey] An ancient Roman cup
741
00:35:11,418 --> 00:35:14,888
with a color-changing
party trick.
742
00:35:14,922 --> 00:35:17,423
For centuries,
this unique ability
743
00:35:17,458 --> 00:35:19,425
defies explanation.
744
00:35:20,461 --> 00:35:22,762
[Anna] In 1990, scientists used
745
00:35:22,796 --> 00:35:24,464
an electron microscope
to have a look
746
00:35:24,498 --> 00:35:28,835
at what was going on
inside the glass itself.
747
00:35:28,869 --> 00:35:31,538
[Corey] They discovered
tiny particles of gold,
748
00:35:31,572 --> 00:35:35,675
silver, and copper
suspended in the glass.
749
00:35:35,709 --> 00:35:37,443
[Anna] These are nanoparticles,
750
00:35:37,478 --> 00:35:38,678
so they're about a thousandth
751
00:35:38,712 --> 00:35:41,414
of the width of a human hair.
752
00:35:43,651 --> 00:35:45,785
It's these tiny
metallic particles
753
00:35:45,819 --> 00:35:48,521
that hold the secret
to the amazing
754
00:35:48,556 --> 00:35:51,824
color-changing effects
that we see in this glass.
755
00:35:51,859 --> 00:35:54,460
And it's all because
of quantum effects
756
00:35:54,495 --> 00:35:57,397
which happen down
at the subatomic level.
757
00:35:58,866 --> 00:36:01,467
[Corey] The effect works
because white light
758
00:36:01,502 --> 00:36:03,803
is not just one color.
759
00:36:03,837 --> 00:36:04,771
[Andrew] White Light
is actually a mixture
760
00:36:04,805 --> 00:36:06,573
of all the colors
of the rainbow,
761
00:36:06,607 --> 00:36:09,209
red, orange, green,
blue, indigo, violet.
762
00:36:10,644 --> 00:36:13,880
[Corey] The smallest particles
of light are called photons.
763
00:36:13,914 --> 00:36:17,350
And each color of light
is caused by photons
764
00:36:17,384 --> 00:36:19,763
of a different energy.
765
00:36:19,787 --> 00:36:21,821
The magic happens
when these photons
766
00:36:21,855 --> 00:36:26,192
enter the glass and hit
the nanoparticles of metal.
767
00:36:27,428 --> 00:36:28,728
[Daniel] Because
they're metal particles,
768
00:36:28,762 --> 00:36:31,364
they've got like a cloud
of electrons
769
00:36:31,398 --> 00:36:32,966
around the outside of them.
770
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:38,404
And when the photon
hits the cloud of electrons,
771
00:36:38,439 --> 00:36:41,107
it's absorbed, and it sets up
772
00:36:41,141 --> 00:36:42,775
a sort of vibration
in the cloud of electrons.
773
00:36:42,810 --> 00:36:45,478
It's like a jumper
hitting a trampoline,
774
00:36:45,512 --> 00:36:47,880
the whole thing flexes
and a wave runs around it.
775
00:36:47,915 --> 00:36:49,916
And then when it flexes
back out again,
776
00:36:49,950 --> 00:36:54,254
it spits out the photon
back the way it came.
777
00:36:55,956 --> 00:36:59,359
[Corey] Scientists discovered
that the precise diameter
778
00:36:59,393 --> 00:37:01,494
of the nanoparticles
in the glass
779
00:37:01,528 --> 00:37:04,808
causes only green photons
to bounce back.
780
00:37:04,832 --> 00:37:06,766
[Andrew] By very carefully
varying the quantities,
781
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:08,801
the ingredients,
when you're making this glass,
782
00:37:08,836 --> 00:37:10,970
you can make these particles
exactly the right size
783
00:37:11,005 --> 00:37:13,806
to scatter the green light,
allow the other colors through
784
00:37:13,841 --> 00:37:16,276
and create this
beautiful effect.
785
00:37:17,811 --> 00:37:19,379
[Corey] When you look
at the light
786
00:37:19,413 --> 00:37:21,814
reflected by the cup,
you see green.
787
00:37:23,017 --> 00:37:26,753
[Daniel] The rest of the light
goes right through the cup.
788
00:37:26,787 --> 00:37:29,889
And white light minus green
789
00:37:29,923 --> 00:37:32,625
is that kind of
plummy red color.
790
00:37:32,660 --> 00:37:35,428
[Corey] So when the light
is shining through the glass,
791
00:37:35,462 --> 00:37:36,763
you see red.
792
00:37:36,797 --> 00:37:38,765
[Anna] What's incredible
about this glass is that
793
00:37:38,799 --> 00:37:41,801
in order to produce
these nanoparticles,
794
00:37:41,835 --> 00:37:43,703
the maker would have had
to have ground up
795
00:37:43,737 --> 00:37:46,673
the metals into a really,
really fine powder,
796
00:37:46,707 --> 00:37:50,576
much, much finer than talcum
powder, for example,
797
00:37:50,611 --> 00:37:52,912
and then embedded that
into the glass
798
00:37:52,946 --> 00:37:56,449
and dispersed it evenly
so it's evenly distributed
799
00:37:56,483 --> 00:38:00,920
throughout, in a very,
very specific amount.
800
00:38:00,954 --> 00:38:03,623
[Corey] The effect is caused
by a minute amount
801
00:38:03,657 --> 00:38:05,591
of the metals.
802
00:38:05,626 --> 00:38:07,694
[Anna] We think
that the amount of silver
803
00:38:07,728 --> 00:38:11,564
and gold in this cup is about
300 parts per million
804
00:38:11,598 --> 00:38:12,865
for the silver and about
805
00:38:12,900 --> 00:38:15,468
40 parts per million
for the gold.
806
00:38:15,502 --> 00:38:17,370
So if you were to clump
all of that silver
807
00:38:17,404 --> 00:38:19,305
and gold together,
it would still be
808
00:38:19,340 --> 00:38:23,109
a particle that is too small
for the naked eye to see.
809
00:38:25,546 --> 00:38:27,780
[Corey] Scientists
call the quantum effect
810
00:38:27,815 --> 00:38:32,285
that causes the color change,
surface plasmon resonance.
811
00:38:33,587 --> 00:38:35,722
This is nanotechnology,
812
00:38:35,756 --> 00:38:37,457
the manipulation of matter
813
00:38:37,491 --> 00:38:41,394
at an atomic
or near-atomic scale.
814
00:38:41,428 --> 00:38:42,795
[Anna] It's probably
pretty safe to say
815
00:38:42,830 --> 00:38:44,731
that the Romans
didn't understand
816
00:38:44,765 --> 00:38:47,233
the quantum effects
of what was going on
817
00:38:47,267 --> 00:38:48,468
inside their glass.
818
00:38:48,502 --> 00:38:51,871
But clearly,
someone knew enough to know
819
00:38:51,905 --> 00:38:52,905
that if you added these metals
820
00:38:52,940 --> 00:38:56,175
in these quantities
into this material,
821
00:38:56,210 --> 00:38:58,311
then you could create
these amazing
822
00:38:58,345 --> 00:39:00,446
color-changing effects.
823
00:39:01,682 --> 00:39:04,350
[Corey] With its extraordinary
quantum glass,
824
00:39:04,385 --> 00:39:05,685
the Lycurgus Cup may well be
825
00:39:05,719 --> 00:39:10,022
the most spectacular cage cup
ever created.
826
00:39:11,458 --> 00:39:14,994
Who is this unique object
made for?
827
00:39:15,629 --> 00:39:18,731
[dramatic music playing]
828
00:39:18,766 --> 00:39:20,800
[Mark] You'd have been certainly
an extremely wealthy individual,
829
00:39:20,834 --> 00:39:22,835
a high-class individual,
maybe even someone
830
00:39:22,870 --> 00:39:26,272
associated with the emperor
or the emperor's family.
831
00:39:27,608 --> 00:39:28,775
[Corey] The cup is probably made
832
00:39:28,809 --> 00:39:31,477
in the early Fourth Century AD,
833
00:39:31,512 --> 00:39:33,279
when the Roman Empire is divided
834
00:39:33,313 --> 00:39:38,985
between two warring emperors,
Constantine and Licinius.
835
00:39:39,853 --> 00:39:43,222
Crucially, Licinius
is based in Thrace
836
00:39:43,257 --> 00:39:45,391
in the eastern empire.
837
00:39:45,426 --> 00:39:48,327
[Mark] The cup shows
the mythical king, Lycurgus,
838
00:39:48,362 --> 00:39:50,563
who is a Thracian king,
839
00:39:50,597 --> 00:39:54,100
battling Dionysus, God of Wine.
840
00:39:55,402 --> 00:39:57,370
[Corey] In the myth,
Lycurgus of Thrace
841
00:39:57,404 --> 00:39:59,906
is defeated by Dionysus.
842
00:40:00,707 --> 00:40:03,843
Also known as the Roman God,
Bacchus.
843
00:40:04,845 --> 00:40:07,513
[Mark] And it could be
symbolic for Licinius,
844
00:40:07,548 --> 00:40:10,249
the western Roman emperor
who moved to Thrace.
845
00:40:11,585 --> 00:40:12,952
During this time,
the emperor Constantine,
846
00:40:12,986 --> 00:40:14,787
who was the ruler
of the eastern Roman Empire,
847
00:40:14,822 --> 00:40:17,723
did defeat Licinius
and this may be
848
00:40:17,758 --> 00:40:20,493
a kind of symbolism,
if you will.
849
00:40:20,527 --> 00:40:22,628
[Corey] So it's possible
the cup's decoration
850
00:40:22,663 --> 00:40:25,331
is symbolic of Licinius' defeat
851
00:40:25,365 --> 00:40:27,266
by Constantine.
852
00:40:28,435 --> 00:40:30,570
If it is made
to celebrate his victory,
853
00:40:30,604 --> 00:40:32,638
Emperor Constantine
may have drunk
854
00:40:32,673 --> 00:40:35,274
from this very cup.
855
00:40:37,811 --> 00:40:39,679
Whoever owned it, the survival
856
00:40:39,713 --> 00:40:42,582
of this extraordinarily
fragile ancient wonder
857
00:40:42,616 --> 00:40:45,618
through 2,000 years of turmoil
858
00:40:45,652 --> 00:40:49,055
is nothing short of a miracle.
859
00:40:54,661 --> 00:40:58,664
[dramatic music playing]
860
00:40:58,699 --> 00:40:59,732
[Corey] Today, our understanding
861
00:40:59,766 --> 00:41:02,635
of the cup's unique
color-changing ability
862
00:41:02,669 --> 00:41:06,038
is helping develop
pioneering new technology.
863
00:41:07,708 --> 00:41:09,775
[Andrew] Inspired by these
beautiful brightly-colored
864
00:41:09,810 --> 00:41:11,777
nanoparticles
in the Lycurgus Cup,
865
00:41:11,812 --> 00:41:13,613
scientists at the University
of Illinois
866
00:41:13,647 --> 00:41:16,916
have been able to develop
incredibly sensitive sensors.
867
00:41:16,950 --> 00:41:19,752
So in the Lycurgus Cup,
all of those little gold
868
00:41:19,786 --> 00:41:21,787
and silver nanoparticles
are surrounded by glass,
869
00:41:21,822 --> 00:41:24,490
but instead of glass,
you put these nanoparticles
870
00:41:24,525 --> 00:41:27,727
in something like water,
you can detect tiny changes
871
00:41:27,761 --> 00:41:28,728
in the concentration
of different things
872
00:41:28,762 --> 00:41:31,597
dissolved in the water
by looking at the changes
873
00:41:31,632 --> 00:41:34,200
in the color of the sensor.
874
00:41:36,069 --> 00:41:37,737
This means this technology
has applications
875
00:41:37,771 --> 00:41:40,206
for medicine
where you can detect
876
00:41:40,240 --> 00:41:41,741
tiny quantities of things
in people's bodily fluids,
877
00:41:41,775 --> 00:41:44,010
to setting explosives
where you can detect
878
00:41:44,044 --> 00:41:45,545
trace amounts
of signature chemicals
879
00:41:45,579 --> 00:41:48,381
that give away the presence
of a bomb.
880
00:41:50,684 --> 00:41:52,585
[Corey] It seems that sometimes
881
00:41:52,619 --> 00:41:54,787
discovering the secrets
of the ancient world
882
00:41:54,821 --> 00:41:59,125
may unlock the secrets
of our own future.