The Antikythera Mechanism Has Been Built With Lego Toys!
The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient mechanical computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was recovered in 190001 from the Antikythera wreck, but its complexity and significance were not understood until just recently. The result was a complex clockwork mechanism that displayed the motions of the Sun, Moon and planets on precisely marked dials. By turning a handle, the creator could watch his tiny celestial bodies trace their undulating paths through the sky. This device could be very easily considered the first complex computing device. Andy Carol, an expert at building mechanical computers out of Lego as a hobby has recreated the Antikythera Mechanism! It took him nearly a year, but he did it and it works!
The Antikythera Mechanism: is the oldest known scientific computer, built in Greece at around 100 BCE. Lost for 2000 years, it was recovered from a shipwreck in 1901. But not until a century later was its purpose understood: an astronomical clock that determines the positions of celestial bodies with extraordinary precision. In 2010, we built a fully-functional replica out of Lego. Sponsored by Digital Science: a new division of Macmillan Publishers that provides technology solutions for researchers
Comments are closed.