Animation of Antikythera Mechanism. The Antikythera Mechanism. New imaging technology reveals the soul of the world's first computer.
There may be nothing new under the sun after all. It's been more than two millennia since a large ship went down off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera, and more than a century since a sponge diver discovered the ship's valuable cargo, which included bronze and marble statues, pottery, and glass and silver vases. But only now have researchers deciphered one of the wreck's--and classical archaeology's--most enigmatic artifacts: a corroded collection of bronze and wood fragments known as the Antikythera Mechanism.
It is almost impossible to identify by eye many of the inscriptions on the corroded surface of the mechanism. (© Antikythera Mechanism Research Project) From early on, archaeologists identified pieces of inscribed gear wheels within the corroded lump, which led to the consensus that it was some sort of astronomical device. Jarrett A. Category:Antikythera Mechanism. Internationalization Deutsch: Mechanismus von Antikythera English: Antikythera mechanism Español: Mecanismo de Anticitera Français : Machine d'Anticythère Italiano: Meccanismo di Anticitera Suomi: Antikytheran kone Français : Fragment principal de la machine d'Anticythère.
Español: Fragmento principal de la máquina de Anticitera. Streaming video: Antikythera. Video: Inner workings of the Antikythera mechanism. Antikythera Mechanism: Scientists Crack Secrets Of 2,000-year-ol. Cardiff University experts have led an international team in unravelling the secrets of a 2,000-year-old computer which could transform the way we think about the ancient world.
Professor Mike Edmunds of the School of Physics and Astronomy and mathematician Dr Tony Freeth first heard of the Antikythera Mechanism, a clock-like astronomical calculator dating from the second century BC, several years ago. Now they believe they have cracked the centuries-old mystery of how it actually works. Remnants of a broken wooden and bronze case containing more than 30 gears was found by divers exploring a shipwreck off the island of Antikythera at the turn of the 20th century.
Scientists have been trying to reconstruct it ever since. The new research suggests it is more sophisticated than anyone previously thought. Detailed work on the gears in the mechanism showed it was able to track astronomical movements with remarkable precision. Antikythera computer may be even older than thought. I thought my capacity for sheer jaw-dropping amazement at the Antikythera mechanism had been well and truly exhausted – until last night.
The puzzling instrument is a clockwork computer from ancient Greece that used a fiendishly complex assembly of meshed cogs to simulate the movement of the planets, predict lunar eclipses and indicate the dates of major sporting events. The clockwork technology in the device was already known to be centuries ahead of its time, but new evidence suggests that the enigmatic machine is even older than scientists had realised.
"It is the most important scientific artefact known from the ancient world," said Jo Marchant, who has written a compelling book on the find called Decoding the Heavens. "There's nothing else like it for a thousand years afterwards. " First, a quick recap. At first no one noticed the corroded lump of cogs among the treasures, but the mechanism has since attracted the, at times, obsessive interest of a small group of scientists. Decoding The Heavens. Antikythera Mechanism Part 1: by Nature Video. Antikythera Mechanism Part 2: by Nature Video.