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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The most Gruesome and filthy tortures invented in human history

Image
Most Brutal tortures in the history Impalement Invented in                                       -     Romania Time Taken by the victim to die   -     15 min to 3 days Brief description                             -     This was considered the most inhumane way of torture ever adopted in the history. For Impaling a victim, a tapered and oiled wooden stake is inserted inside the anus (in case of men) or in vagina (for women) from the pointed side. After this, it is stood in the vertical position so that the stake is inserted slowly with the own wait of the victim over a long period of time. The punishment was carried out until the stake comes out of the victim’s breast, shoulder, stomach or mouth. The cruelest part of this torture was that the pointed end was kept blunt enough to not kill the victim too early, so that he/she would have to endure the pain for several hours or even days before dying. The Judas cradle Invented in                                     
Read more

Milestones of Human evolution

Image
Milestones of Human evolution Theory of evolution states that we humans, like all other living species of the world have evolved from our ancestors. It is stated that a genetic mutation occurred in few members of an old species of chimpanzee and they were evolved into a newer species. This phenomenon continued for millions of years and we as humans were evolved finally. No doubt this phenomenon still continues and there are a lot of developments to happen. Well this post will only emphasize on the major milestones which occurred in our history of evolution. Toumai (Sahelanthropus) Believed to have existed 7 million years ago, this species is considered to have first evolved from chimpanzees. In this context they are the first known step in our evolution. For detailed information you may jump to Sahelanthropus which contains the detailed text about the species. Orrorin (Orrorin tugenesis) It is considered as the second big step in our evolution and is believed to
Read more