New revelations about the Antikythera Mechanism come from the findings of a team of researchers from Univercity College London, which also includes two Greek scientists.
The Antikythera Mechanism is kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens and is considered by many to be the first known analog computer in the world, as it is the most complex example of engineering found in the ancient world.
According to the latest article published in the scientific journal “Scientific American”, scientists seem to be getting closer to solving the riddle.
Specifically, they lean towards Archimedes as the designer of the first computer in the history of mankind.
The six-member UCL Antikythera Research Team, which includes two Greek scientists, archaeologist Myrto Georgakopoulou and physicist Aris Dakanalis, led by mathematician and filmmaker Tony Frith, has managed to represent the largest part of this computer. which dates between 4th and 1st BC. century.
But if it is true that the one who inspired and actually invented it was Archimedes of Syracuse, then the possible period of construction of the Mechanism is quite limited, since Archimedes lived from 287 to 212 BC.
Of course, it is very likely that the Mechanism is a later copy and not the archimedean original. In ancient times, bronze objects were recycled, as copper was the most widely used metal. It is possible, then, that the original invention was converted into household utensils, weapon components, etc.
The mysterious complex astronomical instrument with 69 gears
As can be seen from the graph, utilizing the latest data from the UCL team’s research, the heart of the Antikythera Mechanism is composed of 69 gears, of various sizes and of different types.
Only 35 of them can be seen in the authentic archaeological find through the three-dimensional X-rays that he has undergone from time to time. Scientists had to imagine the existence and operation of the remaining 34 gears, as only 1/3 of the mechanism was pulled from the seabed near Antikythera.
But even this is fragmented into 82 different fragments, which demonstrates how difficult it is to analyze and understand how it was built, how it worked and what purpose it served.
Scientists were only able to deduce the number of teeth in many of the gears. Despite the shortcomings, British historian Derek J. de Solla Price had located a gear train – a set of connected gears – that calculated the average position of the moon at any given date using the 254 star rotation period in 19 years.
It seems that the two sides of the mechanism could produce predictions, for example, about the eclipses of the Moon and the Sun, the date of the Olympic Games and in general all the events that, according to the ancient Greeks, depended on the stars.
British math teacher Tony Frith has been curious about him for over 20 years and has personally contributed to the revelation of some of his crucial secrets.
The key to determining its true usefulness was its back, which is now considered to have been completely decrypted. It included two cycles of indications, but also an engraved “user manual”.
The new data was, however, surprising.
The first major discovery was that the mechanism predicted eclipses in addition to the motions of astronomical bodies. This finding was linked to an inscription found by Rehm that reported a 223-month eclipse cycle.
New x-rays revealed a large 223-tooth gear on the back of the mechanism that points a pointer around a dial that spirals outward, making four turns in a total of 223 sections, or 223 months.
Named after the common name of the Babylonian eclipse cycle, the saros dial predicts which months will include eclipses, along with features of each eclipse as described by inscriptions on the mechanism. The finding revealed an impressive new feature of the device, but it left a huge problem: a group of four gears located on the periphery of the large gear that seemed to have no function.
After months of processing these tools, it was found that the usefulness of these gears was to calculate the variable motion of the moon. In modern terms, the moon has variable motion because it has an elliptical orbit: when it is farther from Earth, it moves more slowly against the stars. when it is closer, it moves faster. The ancient Greeks did not know about elliptical orbits, but explained the subtle motion of the moon by combining two circular motions in what is called epicircular theory.
The observation of the former curator of engineering at the Michael Wright Science Museum in London helped a lot in this observation.
In an attempt to decipher the front of the device, it was imperative to identify the planetary cycles embedded in the mechanism, because they determine how the sprocket trains calculated planetary positions.
Scientists now understand how the front screen matched the description on the back cover user manual, with the sun and planets appearing in beads in concentric rings. The front cover also showed the phase, position and age of the moon (the number of days since the new moon) and the index for the eclipse years and seasons.
The mechanism of Antikythera, with its precision gears that have teeth about one millimeter, is completely different from anything else in the ancient world.
Scientific American
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