Researchers saw that this first astronomical calculator gave the Greeks extraordinary knowledge in measuring the planets orbiting the sun, the distance around the earth, to the size of the moon.
Professor Tony Freeth of University College London (UCL) said the Ancient Greeks used this tool to predict astronomical positions and eclipses decades earlier. “This tool is also used to track the ancient Olympic cycle,” he said Express, Tuesday (4/1/2022).
The tool was found along with other treasures from a shipwreck off the coast of the island Greek Antikythera in 1901. This analog computer was invented along with marble statues, elegant vases, sparkling jewelery and ancient coins.
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Initially found only in the form of chunks of rusty metal that did not know what it was. However, after seeing the presence of gears, the object finally caught the attention of researchers.
“This is the first surprise because anything from ancient Greece shouldn’t have gears. These are precision gears with teeth about a millimeter long, it’s really surprising,” he said.
Later researchers learned that the Antikythera mechanism was a special calculating machine, using bronze gears to calculate the cycles of the cosmos.
Then why people ancient Greek creating such a tool has bothered experts since its invention? Prof Freeth believes it was conceived to account for Greek astrological theories.
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