A 2,000-year-old mechanical computer salvaged from a Roman shipwreck has astounded scientists who have finally unravelled the secrets of how the sophisticated device works. The machine was lost among cargo in 65BC when the ship carrying it sank in 42m of water off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera. By chance, in 1900, a sponge diver called Elias Stadiatos discovered the wreck and recovered statues and other artifacts from the site.The machine first came to light when an archaeologist working on the recovered objects noticed that a lump of rock had a gear wheel embedded in it. Closer inspection of material brought up from thestricken ship subsequently revealed 80 pieces of gear wheels, dials, clock-like hands and a wooden and bronze casing bearing ancient Greek inscriptions.Since its discovery, scientists have been trying to reconstruct the device, which is now known to be an astronomical calendar capable of tracking with remarkable precision the position of the sun, several heavenly bodies and the phases of the moon.
Experts believe it to be the earliest-known device to use gear wheels and by far the most sophisticated object to be found from the ancient and medieval periods.
Using modern
computer x-ray tomography and high resolution surface scanning, a team
led by Mike Edmunds and Tony Freeth at Cardiff University peered inside
fragments of the crust-encased mechanism and read the faintest
inscriptions that once covered the outer casing of themachine.
Detailed imaging of the mechanism suggests it dates back to 150-100 BC
and had 37 gear wheels enabling it to follow the movements of the moon
and the sun through the zodiac, predict eclipses and even recreate the
irregular orbit of the moon. The motion, known as the first lunar
anomaly, was developed by the astronomer Hipparcus of Rhodes in the 2nd
century BC, and he may have been consulted in the machine's
construction, the scientists speculate.
Remarkably, scans showed
the device uses a differential gear, which was previously believed to
have been invented in the 16th century. The level of miniaturisation
and complexity of its parts is comparable to that of 18th century
clocks.
Some researchers believe
the machine, known as the Antikythera Mechanism, may have been among
other treasure looted from Rhodes that was en route to Rome fora
celebration staged by......
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Ancient indian spaceport discovered?
What is the Antikythera mechanism ?
Did an Ancient Language of Universal Symbols Exist?
Ancient Nuclear Weapons!
Ancient Egyptian Alchemy
Ancient technology
High-Tech Wars Described in Ancient Texts!
Skeleton Shows Ancient Brain Surgery
An Ancient Greek 'Computer'
