The day the Antikythera mechanism was discovered in 1901 is celebrated all over the scientific world.
This astonishingly intricate machine is an ancient Greek device which, according to many scientists, is the world’s first computer.
The Antikythera mechanism was discovered in 1901 in an ancient shipwreck by Greek sponge divers. After numerous studies, it is estimated that it was built between 150 BC and 100 BC. A later study places it at 205 BC, just seven years after the death of Archimedes.
And now – exactly 120 years later – the astonishing machine has been recreated, using 3-D footage, by a brilliant group of researchers from University College London (UCL).
The relaxation is not only a wonderful and wonderful thing; it made possible a new understanding of its operation.
Since only 82 fragments of the original mechanism exist – which make up only a third of the entire calculator – researchers have stimulated about its full capabilities.
Up to this point, the front of the mechanism, which contains most gears, has been a bit of a holy grail for marine archaeologists and astronomers.
Using computer modeling, the UCL researchers reconstructed the old computer so that they could understand more exactly what it was meant to do.
Professor Tony Freeth says in a new article published in the journal Scientific reports: “Ours is the first model that matches all the physical evidence and matches the descriptions in the scientific inscriptions engraved on the Mechanism itself.
“The sun, the moon and the planets are displayed in an impressive dazzling tour of ancient Greek splendor.”
The largest piece of the mechanism still surviving, called “Fragment A” by researchers, has bearings, pillars and a block. Another piece, known as ‘Fragment D’, has a mysterious disc, along with an extraordinarily complicated gear with 63 teeth and a plate.
The inscriptions – just discovered by researchers – on the back of the mechanism contain a description of the cosmos, and the planets, shown by beads of different colors, move on rings that are around the inscriptions.
The UCL researchers have now shown that they can demonstrate how the mechanism determined the cycles of the planets Venus and Saturn, using the information obtained from recent X – rays of the computer and their knowledge of ancient Greek mathematics.
To give their discovery even more meaning, the researchers were also able to add all the missing information about the cycles of the other planets that have been missing so far.
It was May 17, 1901, when Spirydon Stais, a Greek politician, visited a museum that housed treasures from an ancient shipwreck.
Beneath them was a round, green casing piece of metal that caught his attention because it seemed as if nothing else had been picked up from the bottom of the sea around the small Greek island of Antikythera.
The shipwreck has just been accidentally discovered by local fishermen. One of them came out of the water and clamped a bronze arm – the first find from the Antikythera wreck.
Stais, who immediately realized that this would mean a major shipwreck, arranged the first underwater excavation of the ancient wreck. The findings were abundant – and staggering in their interest.
But the strange object that stood out from all the coins, pottery and sculptures found there was by far the most important of all.
This was what would later become known as the “Antikythera mechanism”, referred to by scientists and archaeologists as the “world’s first computer.”
The ancient machine was buried in the sea about 2100 years ago. It consisted of bronze gears and other metal-mechanical parts, which once moved smoothly but were rusty or stained.
Archaeologists and scientists have been trying for decades to discover what the intricate mechanism was made for. They estimated that it was built between 200 and 70 BC. In recent decades, researchers have used X-rays and CT scans to look at the Antikythera mechanism and reconstruct it.
Scientists have discovered that the device was an extensive construction of about thirty rotating gears that controlled the hands of the sun, moon, eclipses, planets – and even the schedule for the Olympics.
A hand crank rotates the gears that move the hands on the hands. In this way, the user could predict eclipses and the passage of celestial bodies through the air.
Antikythera mechanism rewrote the history of science
In 2015, Kyriakos Efstathiou, a professor of mechanical engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and head of the group that studied the Antikythera mechanism, said: ‘All our research has shown that our ancestors used their deep knowledge of astronomy and technology. has around such mechanisms, and only based on this conclusion, the history of technology must be rewritten because it began many centuries ago. ”
The professor further explained that the Antikythera mechanism is undoubtedly the first machine of antiquity that can be classified by the scientific term ‘computer’, because ‘it is a machine with an input where we can import data, and this machine can produce and create results based on a scientific mathematical scale.
“We’ve never had such a device before,” he said.
“We are not just referring to a computer, but to a supercomputer,” Efstathiou emphasized.
In 2016, another astonishing discovery was made when an inscription on the device was announced – something like a label or a user manual for the device.
It contains a discussion of the colors of eclipses, details used at the time in making astrological predictions, including the ability to see exact times of eclipses of the moon and sun, as well as the true motions of celestial bodies.
Entries of numbers 76, 19 and 223 are ‘Pythagorean’
On one side of the device lies a handle that starts the movement of the whole system. By turning the handle and turning the gauges at the front and back of the mechanism, the user can set a date that would reveal the astronomical phenomena that would occur around the earth.
Physicist Yiannis Bitsakis said that the NASA website today can, of course, set out all the eclipses of the past and those that will occur in the future. “What we do with computers today, however, was done about 2,000 years ago with the Antikythera mechanism,” he said.
By successfully reading 3,400 characters from the fragmented inscriptions, the research team was able to recognize whole sentences, which helped to understand the functional object, and formed something like a ‘manual’ for the use of the instrument.
The professor of astrophysics, Xenophon Moussas, said that ‘today’s computers and cell phones have their roots in the gears of the mechanism’, as evidenced by the inscriptions found on the object.
‘This machine is the root of all civilization’
‘The most important thing is that we see physical laws applied within the mechanism, and the proof is in the inscriptions and the numbers 76, 19 and 223 which also show the name of the manufacturer, which clearly tells us:’ I am a Pythagorean, ” Moussas said.
As the professor argues, this machine is the root of all civilization and technology, and it is in fact the oldest computer “tablet”.
The mechanism also contains an astrological calendar, as it appears to revolve around the zodiac, indicating the motions of both the Moon and the planets.
The machine is meant to be used in different places
To make this incredible machine even more impressive is the fact that the movements of the planets at that time were directly linked to specific observation sites around the known world, suggesting that the creator of the Antikythera mechanism provided for the use of the machine in more than one place.
This incredible realization arose when scientists saw that the words “Dodona” and “Alexandria” were found in the engraving of the machine. The mechanism also has methods for estimating the time of sporting events held every four years, such as the Olympics and the Isthmian Games, according to researchers’ claims.
All the scientists involved in the analysis of this incredible device – as well as many other researchers – agree that the Antikythera find is the most important discovery of the shipwreck in mankind.
Legs found at shipwreck
The Greek Ministry of Culture issued a statement in late 2019 informing the public about the discoveries found at the wreckage, which once yielded the Antikythera mechanism on the island of Antikythera, south of the Peloponnesian Peninsula.
The statement noted that “bones have been collected, which now need to be analyzed, as well as olive kernels and bronze nails of the ship, as well as a bronze ring whose use is unknown.”
Among the findings discovered were parts of the bodies of ancient amphorae, as well as the bases and necks of the main bodies of the vases.
The species of amphorae are identified as those commonly used on the island of Kos and in southern Italy in ancient times.
The Greek Ministry notes “This October 2019 scientific mission has completed the first five-year research program. Based on the results of the latest research, preparations for the new five-year program, which begins in May 2020, will begin immediately with the continuation of excavation research in various parts of the wreck, where there are good indications that impressive new findings will come to light. to give. “
“The mission was completed with great success despite adverse weather conditions and the limited time for rescue research,” the Ministry added.
Video of excavations shows dangerous work of marine archaeologists
This research on the famous shipwreck was made possible by support from the Athanasios Laskarides Public Benefit Foundation.
A video titled ‘2017 Return to Antikythera Expedition’ looks at the delicate and often dangerous work that archaeologists of the sea do to restore ancient gems from the depths of the sea.
The expedition, led by the Greek Euphrates of Underwater Antiquities, Lund University, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, was held between September 4 and 20 of that year, and according to previous trips to the wreck, the team did not leave disappointed.
With excellent weather conditions above them, the divers managed to recover an “orphaned” right arm from a bronze statue, pottery shards, nails, fragments of lead sheath and a strange metal disk, among others.
Prior to the expedition, the Return to Antikythera project team managed to repair glassware, luxury ceramics, anchors, counterweights, tools and even an old skeleton that is still undergoing DNA analysis.