Feb 19, 2008

Antikythera mechanism

The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient mechanical calculator (also described as the first “mechanical computer”) designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was discovered in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, in 1900. Subsequent investigation, particularly in 2006, dated it to about 150-100 BC, and hypothesised that it was on board a ship that sank en route from the Greek island of Rhodes to Rome, perhaps as part of an official loot. Technological artifacts of similar complexity did not appear until a thousand years later.

And there’s good reason to suspect it wasn’t unique. That’s pretty damn cool. More here and here.

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Daily Meh is written and edited by Simen (contact me). I live in Norway. This blog is about whatever interests me. Here are some of my favorite posts from the archives. You can subscribe via RSS.