Hacking a 2,000 Year Old Computer
An Anglo-Greek team of scientists has revealed what they consider the true workings of the Antikythera mechanism, a 2,000 year-old analog computer recovered from a Mediterranean shipwreck over a century ago.
The new model, produced following exhaustive research into new fragments discovered in 2005 on the sea bed near Crete, will be described in the next issue of Nature magazine. The answer: it's a "moon computer," as the BBC put it, used to calculate the astronomical cycles of heavenly bodies. This wasn't unexpected, and confirms currently-prevailing beliefs, but as is always the case with Antikythera, not everyone agrees with the findings.
