'First lab' attributed to ancient Greeks.

'First lab' attributed to ancient Greeks 

Classicists and historians tend to portray the ancient Greeks as high-minded theoreticians who eschewed practical, hands-on investigation. But a mechanical engineer now argues that "the first known research laboratory" existed in ancient Greece some 25 centuries ago -- long before modern-day controlled research sprouted in Renaissance Europe.

Andrew D. Dimarogonas of Washington University in St. Louis says he has reassembled several lines of historical evidence indicating that Pythagoras -- a Greek mathematician, mystic and cult leader who lived around 560 to 480 B.C. -- set up an acoustics lab in his home.

The conventional depiction of the ancients as anti-technology chauvinists springs largely from the assumption that the views of Plato and other Greek philosophers represented those of the society as a whole, notes Vernard Foley of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Foley praises Dimarogonas for highlighting the "forgotten" practical side of ancient Greece. The new proposal, he says, should help to "get Greek culture out from the grips of Plato."

Yet Foley and other historians hesitate to conclude that Pythagoras and his followers established a bona fide research lab. "Whether they [the Pythagoreans] did research systematically and continuously enough to say they had a laboratory is debatable," he contends.

Pythagoreans took secrecy vows, and any loose talk allegedly could lead to their execution by fellow cultists. This secrecy, combined with scant historical records, hampers researchers' attempts to characterize the cult, says science historian Edward Grant of Indiana University in Bloomington.

Dimarogonas' claim pivots largely on the writings of the Roman scholar Boethius, who lived 1,000 years after Pythagoras died and who probably had access to documents long since lost.

Boethius recounts a story of unknown origin in which Pythagoras, after going into a metalworking shop, conducted impromptu experiments to learn how different hammers produced specific tones. As Boethius tells it, Pythagoras discovered that a hammer weighing half as much as another produced a note an octave higher no matter how much force was used to swing the hammer. Pythagoras also found that other sets of hammers with specific weight ratios produced other tonal consonances such as fourths.

According to the story, Pythagoras returned home from the shop and conducted experiments into the relationship between objects' physical proportions and the tones they produce. His experiments included plucking strings of different lengths and widths and hitting vessels filled with varying amounts of liquid. Other ancient authors, such as Theon of Smyrna (2nd century A.D.), offer similar anecdotes indicating that Pythagoreans and other ancient Greeks were not merely head-in-the-sky theoreticians, Dimarogonas asserts in the May JOURNAL OF SOUND AND VIBRATION.

Dimarogonas summons further evidence from a drawing accompanying Boethius' manuscript. Pythagoras is shown using a hammer to hit a series of hanging bells, while other hammers rest in the pans of a balance suspended from his other hand. To the left, Boethius himself appears with a so-called monochord, an instrument consisting of a single taut string whose length can be varied. The monochord "was deliberately designed and built to conduct experiments regarding the relation of the length of the string to the pitch of the sound," Dimarogonas suggests.

He contends that most historians may not be equipped to interpret subtle scientific messages in historical documents and objects. "Hopefully, this work will trigger pure historians to seek cooperation of scientists and engineers in interpreting things that they cannot interpret themselves," he says.