Adam Savage

It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to Lego Adam Savage as an Honorary Brick Classicist.

Inducted for his work in the TV show MythBusters with his colleague Jamie Hyneman, where in several episodes they approached ancient history. Most notable were “Ancient Death Ray” (Sept. 29, 2004) “Steam Cannon” (July 19, 2006) both of which explored ideas of Archimedes, and the third “Arrow Machine Gun” (Nov. 3, 2010), was based on an historical description of Dionysus the Elder’s ancient Arrow Machine Gun.

The second reason is because of Savage’s more recent work in his online Tested video blog of himself and Norman Chan building a Lego Sisyphus Automata Model (designed by Jason Allemann) from Greek mythology.

And finally, but most importantly, is a TED talk he presents, “How simple ideas lead to scientific discoveries” in which he uses two examples of discoveries, including Eratosthenes’ calculation of the Earth's circumference around 200 BC, that came from creative methods based on straight-forward human curiosity.

All three of these are a form of reception of Ancient History and so I am very happy to welcome Lego Adam Savage into the Lego Classicists family, as an Honorary Lego Classicist.