A restored view of a 2,000-year-old computer.
The Antikythera mechanism, a bronze machine designed in ancient Greece to calculate the position of celestial bodies in the sky, is believed by scientists to be the oldest “computer”. It is estimated that the machine was built between 150 and 100 B.C., and is now more than 2,000 years old.
In 1901, its remains were found in the remains of the Antikythera shipwreck near the Greek island of Antikythera. Since people only found a total of 82 pieces of this machine, its construction was a mystery for more than a hundred years. Scientists do not know either the full picture of it or how it actually functioned.
Scientists know that the machine was a tool used by the ancient Greeks to predict astronomical events, using magical mathematical formulas that could map the machine’s gears to astronomical events.
The study, published March 12 in the journal Scientific Reports, used a computer model to restore the machine to its original form and disassemble the inner workings.
With as much as two-thirds of the machine missing, the researchers used a 3-D model combined with X-ray technology to reconstruct the machine’s exterior, gears and nearly the entire front panel, hoping to soon build a complete replica.
The lead study member, a scientist at University College London (UCL), said they are one step closer to understanding the mechanism. Tony Freeth, the study’s lead author, said, “The ancient Greeks showed with great ingenuity the orbits of the sun, moon and other planets.”
The study release’s communique says: “Using the ancient Greek mathematical methods described by the philosopher Parmenides, the UCL research team not only explained the origin of the cycles of Venus and Saturn, but also revealed the cycles of all the other planets in the absence of evidence.”
Frith said, “Our model is the first one that fits all the physical evidence and matches all the descriptions engraved on the machine.”
In addition, another study published last year found that the dial on the front panel of this machine is not a 365-day calendar, as was previously thought, but a kind of 354-day lunar calendar.
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