Scientists managed to determine the area of creation of the "Antikythera mechanism" - the oldest (known to science) computer in the history of mankind, and possibly its creator
According to New Scientist, Alexander Jones of the New York Institute for the Study of the Ancient World was able to determine the likely area of the creation of the so-called "Antikythera Mechanism" - the oldest computing device known to science.
The Antikythera Mechanism, a mechanical device with a large number of gears, was discovered in 1902 in an antique ship that sank in the Aegean Sea near the Greek island of Antikythera (Αντικύθηρα). Antikythera Island is located between Crete and the Peloponnesian Peninsula of mainland Greece.
The mechanism is kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens and dates back to about 100-150 BC. e.
The Antikythera mechanism is much more complicated than any other material cultural monument of Ancient Greece. In it, in particular, a differential transmission was used (it was believed that it was invented not earlier than the 16th century), there are 32 bronze gears and dials with arrows.
A similar level of mechanical processing of parts was achieved in Europe in the manufacture of mechanical watches only in the 17th century.
At first it was assumed that he was an element of the clockwork or the prototype of the astrolabe. In 1955, the English historian Derek J. de Solla Price suggested that the Antikythera Mechanism was a computing device - a mechanical adding machine.
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As part of the research of the unique monument started in 2005, it was possible to restore almost 95% of the text on the structural elements. Alexander Jones was now able to read the text.
The names of the months, characteristic of the colonies founded by the ancient Greek city of Corinth, were discovered in it. One of these colonies was the city of Syracuse in Sicily. This suggests that the Antikythera Mechanism was created there.
It was in Syracuse during the period of confrontation between Rome and Carthage, about a century before the probable moment of the creation of the Antikythera mechanism, that the great Archimedes lived.
This, in turn, allows us to assume that it can be either the work of a great scientist, or, most likely, the work of the master's disciples unknown to us. Cicero, in particular, wrote about a device similar to the Antikythera mechanism.
The hypothesis of the origin of the Antikythera mechanism proposed by Alexander Jones does not agree well with today's ideas about the route of the transporting and wrecked ship - it was believed that he was carrying goods from Greece to Rome and, thus, went just towards Syracuse, but not from them.
This may indicate that a mechanical calculator traveled for a long time in Oycumene, before it was forgotten for two millennia on the seabed near Antikythera Island.
It is also possible that the Antikythera Mechanism is significantly younger than it is now believed, and the anachronism is caused by its incorrect dating.
More detailed information on the results of the study of the Antikythera Mechanism and on the background of modern computing technologies will be presented on the Research and Development portal.