An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists

[Sequoia]

A computer in antiquity would seem to be an anachronism, like Athena ordering takeout on her cellphone. But a century ago, pieces of a strange mechanism with bronze gears and dials were recovered from an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Greece. Historians of science concluded that this was an instrument that calculated and illustrated astronomical information, particularly phases of the Moon and planetary motions, in the second century B.C.

The Antikythera Mechanism, sometimes called the world’s first computer, has now been examined with the latest in high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography. A team of British, Greek and American researchers was able to decipher many inscriptions and reconstruct the gear functions, revealing, they said, “an unexpected degree of technical sophistication for the period.”

The researchers, led by Tony Freeth and Mike G. Edmunds, both of the University of Cardiff, Wales, are reporting the results of their study in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.

They said their findings showed that the inscriptions related to lunar-solar motions and the gears were a mechanical representation of the irregularities of the Moon’s orbital course across the sky, as theorized by the astronomer Hipparchos. They established the date of the mechanism at 150-100 B.C.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/science/30computecnd.html?hp&ex=1164862800&en=d7d28d698786f28d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[slackmaster]

1. How long until the Sharper Image catalog has replicas for sale?

I want one.

[Sherman A1]

4. Me too,

I can put it with my weather glass barometer and my Galileo thermometer.

[applegrove]

2. Wow! They are just talking about it on the CBC. I'll report back.

Cogs and dials that can be adjusted.

Found years ago by a greek sponge diver. He thought he saw ghosts and went to the surface. His boss told him what he saw were statues. He dove back down and recovered lots of stuff.

Made out of bronze. Wasn't cleaned till 50 years ago. Kinda like an astrolabe but more complicated. Gaged the sun & the moon. Could calculate years in advance. Could forsee eclipses. Nothing as complicated was seen again until clocks were built 1000 years later.

[Redstone]

3. I heard about this a couple of years ago. Can't wait until someone builds a replica.

Redstone

[evilgenius602]

5. there was an excellent show about this device

on discovery/history channel which they replay from time to time. Some attribute it to archimedes which is equally fascinating/

[BlueJazz]

6. Unfortunately, Scientists could not get the Mechanism to work...

...It had been infected with the "Antikythera Mechanism" Trojan Worm.

Norton expects an update soon though....

[POAS]

7. Sort of a "window" into the ancient world

[FogerRox]

9. groaning,,,,, LOL

[slackmaster]

8. You just got me in trouble at work

I could not suppress a laugh. Now everybody in the place wants to see the joke.

[Occulus]

10. I found an artist's computer rendering of what a "new" one might look like

Very cool.

[Pierre.Suave]

12. Thats Cool

I would buy that.

[TheBaldyMan]

11. download the Antikythera simulator and play with it yourself (link)

The 1.8 Mb download link is below these screenies ...


http://demonews.com/download-966.html">freeware download the simulator here

Clever buggers those ancient Greeks.