Currents of Mechanical Thought: The Clock of the Nations and Its Antecedents, 800-1962
Pursel, Christopher
Pursel, Christopher
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2026-05
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The Clock of the Nations is a 20th-century manifestation of the ancient practice of building automata, mechanical devices made in the likeness of human beings or animals. Building upon Minsoo Kang's system of categorizing European automata, this thesis identifies seven, roughly chronological "currents of mechanical thought" within Late Medieval and Early Modern intellectual traditions in both Europe and the Middle East. These currents reflect distinct but interrelated themes that informed the design and making of the automata and are used to categorize them.