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Was the Antikythera Mechanism the world’s first computer? (2007)

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Re: Was the Antikythera Mechanism the world’s first computer? (2007)

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post #3

YouTube channel of a guy recreating the mechanism: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0...

It's a beautiful device, and for some reason I could watch Mr. Clickspring file brass for hours. Most of the device is clockwork – gears and bearings, so… physical manifestations of multiplication and division.

But…

The first couple of minutes of Episode 9 amaze me. There is a section where two gears with slightly offset axis are joined with a pin and slot to approximate the nonlinear angular movement of the moon caused by its elliptical orbit.

It makes one wonder about the sheer number of observations and quantity of analysis they must have done >2000 years ago to work out the motion of the moon and translate the math into bronze.

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