World's first analog computer

Antikythera mechanism

It is the oldest gear system found till date and is also famous as the oldest analog computer of the world. the calculator has been dated to be built in 1st century BC. The mechanism was found in 1900-1901 from a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera and is of Greek origin. No other older artifact showing so much complex mechanism was ever found after that, hence Antikythera mechanism is of great historical significance.

Reconstruction of Antikythera mechanism at Archaeological museum Athens
It is actually a date calculator which was used as a calendar. The calculator had a small hand crank which is lost now. The hand crank was used to set the date and was linked to the largest gear through a crown gear. When the hand crank was rotated, all the gears inside were also rotated with it and various astronomical figures like position of the Sun, Moon phases, planets and eclipse cycles were calculated.

The mechanism was made with low-tin bronze alloy and it is estimated that it had total 30 gears having different number of teeth of the shape of equilateral triangle. It is evident that the gears were created by using hand tools because some of them were not evenly spaced, suggesting the human error. It is estimated that the technology was publicized, since, its precision and complexity was unmatched till 14th century when astronomical clocks were built for the first time in Europe.

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