A fascinating story about the Antikythera mechanism, known as humanity’s oldest analog computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. The Antikythera mechanism’s fragments are now known to contain some 30 gear wheels, with instructional inscriptions scribbled on every surface. But what makes the discovery most extraordinary is its seeming anachronism — a curious fold in the space-time continuum of technological history. According to everything we know about the technology of the time, it shouldn’t exist. Nothing close to its sophistication appears again for well over a millennium, with the development of elaborate astronomical clocks in Renaissance Europe.” - Jo Marchant

A fascinating story about the Antikythera mechanism, known as humanity’s oldest analog computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. The Antikythera mechanism’s fragments are now known to contain some 30 gear wheels, with instructional inscriptions scribbled on every surface. But what makes the discovery most extraordinary is its seeming anachronism — a curious fold in the space-time continuum of technological history.

According to everything we know about the technology of the time, it shouldn’t exist. Nothing close to its sophistication appears again for well over a millennium, with the development of elaborate astronomical clocks in Renaissance Europe.” - Jo Marchant

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  1. elitemedical reblogged this from harvest
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  3. nabulos reblogged this from harvest and added:
    one of my favorite ancient tech items
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