An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists – New York Times

0atwong • 30th Nov 2006 • Conversation Pieces

An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists – New York Times

Fragments of the Antikythera Mechanism, left, have now been examined with the latest in high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography. Decoding the Ancient Greek Astronomical Calculator Known as the Antikythera Mechanism (Nature).

But a century ago, pieces of a strange mechanism with bronze gears and dials were recovered from an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Greece. Historians of science concluded that this was an instrument that calculated and illustrated astronomical information, particularly phases of the Moon and planetary motions, in the second century B.C.