What is the antikythera mechanism? Google honours ancient computer

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the “world’s first ever computer” – the mysterious Antikythera mechanism fro ancient Greece. The Doodle which replaced the usual colourful Google logo,

features a drawing of the ancient artefact with symbols representing its various purposes. Ancient Greeks used the device to track and calculate the position of the moon, sun and planets, as

well as predict the dates and colours of solar eclipses.  The 2,000 year old device was even capable of adding, multiplying, dividing and subtracting. WHAT IS THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM? The

Antikythera mechanism was discovered in a Roman cargo shipwreck on May 17, 1902, by Greek archeologist Valerios Stais. For years Stais was baffled by the purposes of the mysterious object

and he initially assumed the mechanism was a gear or wheel. But the archeologist soon discovered that the device was a complex machine capable of various factions. The Antikythera mechanism 

gathered interest in the 1950s, and its complexity, function and computational powers has lead it to be dubbed “the first ever computer”. Princeton science historian Derek J de Solla Price

wrote in 1959: “Nothing like this instrument is preserved elsewhere.  “Nothing comparable to it is known from any ancient scientific text or literary allusion.  “It is a bit frightening, to

know that just before the fall of their great civilisation the ancient Greeks had come so close to our age, not only in their thought, but also in their scientific technology.” Resent

research revealed tiny but legible text which has helped to understand the full potential of the machine. The mechanism had a main dial which represented the calendar year, with another

counting a 19-year lunar cycle. Smaller dials would move to indicate the planets, sun and moon, relative to the 12 constellations of the zodiac. Another dial would have forecasted eclipses

and – oddly – their colour, which would have been used to make astrological predictions. The finished product would also have orbs which moved across the face to show the position of

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter in the night sky. Computer models have revealed more than 30 gears, housed in a wooden and bronze case the size of a shoebox. HOW OLD IS THE

ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM? Initially the mechanism was thought to date back to 85 BC, but recent studies suggest it may have originated back to around 150 BC. The 2,000-year-old computer could

add, multiply, divide and subtract and was probably also used for mapping and navigation.  It predates mechanical calculators found in Europe by some 1600 years. Some of its parts are as

intricate as 18th century clocks. WHERE IS THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM? The mechanism is homed at the National Archaeological Museum of Greece, where visitors can marvel at artistic

reconstructions of the machine.