The 2000 year old computer: the antikythera mechanism
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2014-09-29
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University of Cape Town
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University of Cape Town Summer School 2014
Abstract
In 1900 the first ancient marine wreck was discovered in the Mediterranean. It took a century to understand that the most interesting and unique find was a series of small bronze barnacle encrusted fragments. When investigated with sophisticated technology, they turned out to be from an analogue mechanical computer, built about 70 BCE and capable of predicting planetary positions and eclipses of the Sun and the Moon both in the past and the future. Its sophistication is centuries earlier than any mechanism that even began to emulate such a device. How did it work and who could have designed and built it? This double lecture will offer answers to these absorbing questions.
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Wolfe, D. 2014-09-29. The 2000 year old computer: the antikythera mechanism. Recorded lecture. University of Cape Town Summer School 2014. University of Cape Town.