The world’s oldest computer is a 2,000-year-old device that has baffled scientists since its discovery. As the BBC reports, the Antikythera Mechanism has baffled experts since its finding on a Roman-era shipwreck in Greece in 1901.
The story started with a Greek sponge fishing boat that set out in 1901 and encountered a storm on the island of Antikythera. After the storm, the sailors realized that they had stumbled on an ancient shipwreck with many artifacts. The Greek Navy then organized an underwater archeology expedition. In 1901, the effort yielded many artifacts, including the corroded lump of the Antikythera Mechanism – what is now referred to as the world’s oldest computer.
Recently, scientists have recreated the world’s oldest computer in an effort to understand how it worked. With only 82 fragments – amounting to around a third of the device – survived, scientists have had to piece together the full picture using X-Ray data and an Ancient Greek mathematical method. From x-ray slicing of the main surviving fragments, revealing details of the gears, pins, bearings, arbors, inscriptions, scientists believe it’s one of the true wonders from the ancient world – a work of genius.
The hand-powered Ancient Greek device is thought to have been used to predict eclipses and other astronomical events. But only a third of the device survived, leaving researchers pondering how it worked and what it looked like in functional form. While earlier studies solved the back of the mechanism, the nature of its complex gearing system at the front has remained a mystery.
Scientists from University College London (UCL) believe they have finally cracked the puzzle using 3D computer modeling. They recreated the entire front panel and now hope to build a full-scale replica of the Antikythera using modern materials.
Scientific Study of World’s Oldest Computer
On Friday, a paper published in Scientific Reports revealed a new display of the gearing system of the world’s oldest computer that showed its fine details and complex parts. Above all, it was an astronomical mechanism. “The Sun, Moon, and planets are displayed in an impressive tour de force of ancient Greek brilliance,” the paper’s lead author, Professor Tony Freeth, said. “Ours is the first model that conforms to all the physical evidence and matches the descriptions in the scientific inscriptions engraved on the mechanism itself,” he added.
The Antikythera Mechanism is described as an astronomical calculator as well as the world’s oldest computer (analog). It is made of bronze and includes dozens of gears. The back cover features a description of the cosmos display, which shows the motion of the five planets known at the time of the device’s functionality.
