The Antikythera Mechanism
The world's oldest known analog computer.
Explore this event on the interactive timeline →Discovered in a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera, this incredibly complex bronze mechanism used dozens of interlocking gears to predict astronomical positions and eclipses decades in advance.
Verified Facts
- It was so far ahead of its time that similar gear complexity did not appear again until astronomical clocks in 14th-century Europe.
- It even had a dial to track the four-year cycle of ancient Greek athletic games, including the Olympics.
- The device was likely built by scientists associated with the school of Hipparchus in Rhodes or Archimedes in Syracuse.