In 1900, a sponge diver found an ancient shipwreck dated to the first century AD off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera, which included a cargo of statues, jewelry and pottery; and a piece of intricate clockwork. Called the Antikythera Mechanism, the mechanism included at least thirty gears, and was apparently a clock for tracking the positions of the sun and moon, based on the epicyclic model devised by Hipparchus.
I frankly admit I never heard of this before, and am looking into what I can find out. This article was in the Economist three years ago:
The Antikythera mechanism | The clockwork computer | Economist.com
And according to an entry on Slashdot, a replica has been created and is on display at the Technopolis museum, in Athens.
Slashdot | Ancient Greek Computer Reconstructed
I frankly admit I never heard of this before, and am looking into what I can find out. This article was in the Economist three years ago:
The Antikythera mechanism | The clockwork computer | Economist.com
And according to an entry on Slashdot, a replica has been created and is on display at the Technopolis museum, in Athens.
Slashdot | Ancient Greek Computer Reconstructed
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