'Antikythera' Built 2000 Years Ago May Be the World’s First Computer — But Scientists Still Can’t Fully Decode It
Despite advancements, there are some mysteries that humanity has still been unable to solve. One of them was found at the bottom of the Aegean Sea, stated Popular Mechanics. Despite being found in the 20th century, this marvelous artifact remains a stupefying question mark for its admirers.
The artifact in question is the 'Antikythera mechanism', which has also been sometimes referred to as the World's oldest computer. The item was uncovered by some Greek sponge divers in an ancient shipwreck. At present, it is placed at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The whole artifact was made up of several fragments, of which only 82 have been found. These pieces were of different sizes and possibly make up only one-third of the entire object.
Researchers claim that this object was created 21 centuries ago by the Greeks, stated National Hellenic Museum. The artifact essentially used brass gearwheels to predict how extraterrestrial bodies would move. This methodology was compared to the mechanism of a computer by physicist Derek J. de Solla Price in 1958, stated Popular Mechanics. On the front side, there is a hand-cranked dial that monitors the movement of the sun, moon, and five planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
The other side had two circular dials, in which the lower dial determined lunar and solar eclipses. The upper dial in the mechanism appeared to resolve the mismatch between a lunar month and solar year, say experts. There also appears to be a smaller dial for settling on occasions like Olympic events. Price further claimed that the device could calculate time with respect to the movement of extraterrestrial bodies. This aspect of calculation made it a computer-like object rather than a decorative piece, as per the physicist. To date, there has been no full-fledged description of how the whole mechanism came together to give the supposed results.
Experts worldwide were astounded to see something so intricate dating back to prehistoric times. This discovery shed light on how advanced Greek society was intellectually and the scientific developments they must have achieved.
For a long time, researchers have tried to understand how the mechanism looked and functioned. They have figured out that the object was made of bronze, stated BBC. In 2021, a team of scientists from University College London (UCL) attempted to find some insights into the functioning of this artifact through 3D computer modelling. The modelling helped them to recreate the front panel. Their findings were published in Scientific Reports.
Researchers were happy with the results, as they believed the model showcased many previously unknown intricacies of the artifact. "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. Researchers believe their model is also accurate as it matches the illustrations on the artifact itself.