Scientists have finally created a complete digital model for the Cosmos panel of a 2000-year-old mechanical device called the Antikythera mechanism it is apparently the world’s first computer.
The fragments of a shoebox-sized object, first filled with gears and formerly predicting the movements of celestial bodies, have amazed and amazed generations of researchers ever since.
The discovered fragments made up only one-third of a larger device: a highly sophisticated hand-powered gearbox that can accurately track the movements of the five planets known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the sun, phases of the moon and phases of the moon. predict. the solar eclipse and lunar eclipse —— display them all in relation to the timing of ancient events such as the Olympics.
Related: Photos: Ancient Greek shipwreck delivers Antikythera mechanism
Despite years of careful research and debate, scientists have never been able to fully replicate the mechanism by which the astonishing device, or the calculations used in its design, of the wrecked and rusted copper fragment discovered in the wreckage.
But now researchers from University College London say they have completely recreated the design of the device, according to the ancient calculations used to create it, and that they are now compiling their own materials to see if their design works.
“Our work reveals the Antikythera mechanism as a beautiful conception, translated by excellent engineering into an instrument of genius,” the researchers wrote in the open-access journal on March 12 Scientific reports. “It challenges all our prejudices about the technological capabilities of the ancient Greeks.”
Why recreate Antikythera?
The researchers wanted to recreate the device because of all the mysteries surrounding it, as a way to master as many questions as possible. Moreover, no one has ever created a model of the so-called Cosmos that reconciled with all the physical evidence.
“The distance between the complexity of this device and others made at the same time is infinite,” co-author Adam Wojcik, a materials scientist at UCL, told WordsSideKick. “Honestly, nothing like this has ever been found. It’s not this world.”
The intricate gears that make up the mechanism of the device are on a scale you would expect in a large watch, but the only other gears discovered in the same period are the much larger ones found in things like ballistas or large crossbows. , a catapult.
This sophistication raises many questions about the manufacturing process that could make such a unique intricate contrast, as well as why it was discovered as the only known device of its kind on an old sunken ship from the island of Antikythera.
Related: The 20 most mysterious shipwrecks ever
“What does it do on that ship? We found only one third; where are the other two? [thirds]? Did they rust? Has it ever worked? “Wojcik said.” These are questions we can only answer through experimental archeology. It’s like answering how they built Stonehenge. Let’s get 200 people with a rope and a big rock and try to pull it across Salisbury Plain. It’s a bit like what we’re trying to do here. ‘
Make the first computer
To create the model, the researchers used all the previous research on the device, including that of Michael Wright, a former curator at the Science Museum in London, who had previously built an actual replica. Using inscriptions found on the mechanism and a mathematical model of how the planets move, first designed by the ancient Greek philosopher Parmenides, they were able to create a computer model for a mechanism of overlapping gears that fits in a barely 1 centimeter deep (2.5 centimeters) compartment.
Related: Ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism Compiled User Guide
Their model recreates every gear and knob to show how the planets, the sun and the moon move across the Zodiac (the ancient map of the stars) on the front and the phases of the moon and eclipses on the back. It repeats the outdated ancient Greek assumption that all the heavens around the Earth.
Now that the computer model has been made, the researchers want to make physical versions, first using modern techniques so that they can check that the device is working, and then using the techniques that the ancient Greeks could use.
“There is no evidence that the ancient Greeks could have built something like this. It really is a mystery,” Wojcik said. “The only way to test whether they could is to try to build it the ancient Greek way.”
“And there’s also a lot of debate about who it was and who built it. A lot of people say it was Archimedes“Wojcik said.” He lived about the same time it was built and no one had the same engineering ability as him. It was also a Roman shipwreck. ‘Archimedes was killed by the Romans during the siege of Syracuse, after the weapons he invented could not conquer the city.
There are also mysteries as to whether the ancient Greeks used similar techniques to make other devices yet to be discovered, and whether copies of the Antikythera mechanism are waiting to be found.
“It’s a bit like having a TARDIS appear in the Stone Age,” Wojcik said, referring to Doctor Who’s spaceship that traveled time.
Originally published on Live Science.