2000 Year old computer

This an interesting article for the clock makers about the Antikythera Mechanism, a 2000 year old clockwork computer.

**LINK**

Paul,

If you have not previous found them have a look at Clickspring's series of videos on the Antikythera mechanism and his construction of a reproduction. Technically fascinating, and AWESOME craftmanship.

Start at The Antikythera Mechanism Episode 1 - Greeks, Clocks and Rockets. - YouTube

A popular topic! 507 results on the forum if you follow this link!

www.google.com/search?q=antikythera&sitesearch=model-engineer.co.uk

Neil

I wonder if a lot of the popularity is due to enormous respect for the skills of its unknown makers when metalworking as sophisticated as in this instrument, was still in its infancy and the tools available must have been very basic and rather crude by our standards.

Simple domestic, trade and military objects made in bronze, often with a lot of engraved ornamenting, were common by then, but the Antikythera Mechanism is in a league of its own.

It is indeed, and for me that makes it a bit of a pointless curiosity.

We seem to have no evidence of a development path, or any distribution or further re-use of its technology. Imagine how differently the ancient world might've developed if they'd had commonly-available and capable mechanical calculators, for example.

We might only be who, how and where we are today simply because that particular experiment went to the bottom before its potential could be recognised.

?

On the contrary, the Greeks had all sorts of mechanisms. No doubt the Antikythera device was just one example of many geared mechanisms, even if it was the most complex.

Have a look at this link to Hero's Inventions (born 2,000 years ago)

Actually I think it's made of bronze because iron wouldn't survive being flung back 5 millenia from the future - really it's the user interface for a time machine. Pity it found itself on a ship in a storm...

If it really is an orrery it's orders of magnitude more complex.

Plus it seems to me many of the descriptions may not have been realised in practice, and even then many are either single devices or sets of such in series, not multiple simultaneous calculators.

Fine precision geared mechanisms of this character would have opened up enormous possibilities for calculation which would certainly have been of benefit to those trying to calculate with Roman numerals of the time.

Edited By Mick B1 on 12/01/2022 23:04:58