115 years ago, on May 17, 1902, archaeologist Valerios Stais, studying fragments of bronze from a ship that sank in the Aegean Sea, discovered that some of them are fragments of a mysterious mechanical device. Subsequently, the discovered design was called the Antikythera mechanism, and unofficially it is sometimes referred to as the "first computer" in human history.
An antique Roman ship that sank in the Aegean Sea near the island of Antikythera was discovered on April 4, 1900 by a Greek diver, and initially the most valuable finds on it were considered ancient bronze and marble statues, as well as some other artifacts. Only more than two years later, it became clear that some of the alleged fragments of the statues were in fact fragments of an ancient mechanism.
Further study of the find showed that the device served to calculate the motion of celestial bodies. It contained at least 30 bronze gears in a wooden case, and its dimensions were approximately 31.5 × 17 × 6 centimeters. Apparently, the device was created on the island of Rhodes and allows you to find out the date of 42 astronomical events. The first complete diagram of the Antikythera mechanism, which most likely corresponds to reality, was presented in 1971. However, in some details, scientists still disagree on how exactly the ancient device looked.
Some experts claim that in literary works created in the period from 300 BC to 500 AD, many mechanisms similar to the Antikythera are mentioned, but in reality, something similar has been found only once.
There are many versions as to who the creator of the ancient mechanism could have been. At the end of 2014, American and Argentine scholars representing Padget Sound University and Quilmes University even suggested that Archimedes might have been. However, this can only be true if, in reality, this invention is somewhat older than it is believed today: the famous ancient Greek mathematician, physicist and engineer lived in 287-212 BC. It is worth noting that Mark Tullius Cicero mentions the creation of such an artifact by Archimedes in the philosophical treatise "On the State".
The wreck of the Antikythera ship remains in the center of attention of archaeologists at the present time: in the fall of last year, the remains of a man were discovered there, who, according to one version, could have been the owner of the Antikythera mechanism. However, experts do not exclude the possibility that they are dealing with the remains of a rich passenger, sailor or even a slave who had nothing to do with the "ancient computer". Researchers have found a partially preserved skull with three teeth, bones of arms and legs, fragments of ribs, and a number of other bones, all of which are believed to belong to the same person, whose age at the time of the shipwreck was about 25 years.
Dmitry Istrov