The Antikythera mechanism's gears honor Google with a doodle

byreanna1

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7 years ago

The oldest known complicated mechanism 115 years since its discovery 115 years since the discovery of Antikythera Mechanism honors Google with its current Doodle.

The Antikythera Mechanism (and Antikythera chronology, Antikythera computer or Antikythera astronaut) is an ancient art that is believed to be an ancient analogue mechanical computer and an astronomical observer instrument that is similar to a complex clock mechanism.

This, is the oldest known complex mechanism. It is also called the first known analog computer. Its quality of construction suggests that it was discovered during the Hellenistic Period.

It was discovered in a wreck off the Greek island of Antikythira between Kythira and Crete. Based on the form of the Greek inscriptions it carries dates back to 150 BC. And 100 BC, well before the date of the wreck, which may have happened between 87 BC. And 63 BC. It could have been built up to half a century before the wreck. The wreck was discovered in 1900 at a depth of about 40 to 64 meters and many treasures, statues and other objects were taken up by Symian sponge divers and are currently in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

On May 17, 1902, Valerios Stais, an archaeologist and director of the Archaeological Museum, noticed that one of the finds had a cogwheel built and visible inscriptions in astronomical terms.

The analysis of the inscriptions inside the Antikythera Mechanism presented a year ago, in June 2016, the study group of this enigmatic object for the scientific community. The findings of the study are the result of an international research effort over the past 10 years.

As all the speakers agreed, this is the oldest computer, which gave its owner the ability to see precisely the eclipses of the moon and the sun as well as the motion of the celestial bodies.

How exactly the mechanism worked

On one side of the device there was a handle that moved the whole system. Turning the handle, the pointers on the front and the rear of the mechanism began to rotate. Choosing a date reveals the astronomical phenomena that occur around the Earth.

If you go to NASA's website where all past and future eclipses are reported, it is stated that "what we do here with computers is what the Antikythera Mechanism did about 2,000 years ago" .

The instrument also contains an astrological calendar, whose pointers appear to revolve around the zodiac, revealing the movements of both the Moon and the planets. As it is also revealed, the motions of the planets are directly linked to specific observation sites, indicating that the creator of Antikythera had predicted that this machine could be used in more than one site, since the words Dodoni And Alexandria. They are also associated with sporting events taking place every four years, such as the Olympic Games and Isthmia.