The machine that shouldn’t exist

Transcript

In 1901, divers off Greece found the Antikythera Mechanism in a shipwreck, and it proved to be a hand-powered astronomical calculator with more than 30 bronze gears<sup class="text_citation" source_id="4"></sup><sup class="text_citation" source_id="5"></sup>.

Its gears were used to model the motions of the Sun, Moon, and known planets, and to predict eclipses and other celestial cycles<sup class="text_citation" source_id="2"></sup><sup class="text_citation" source_id="21"></sup>.

For decades, its true purpose remained a mystery, because the device survived in 82 damaged fragments and only modern imaging began to unlock its design<sup class="text_citation" source_id="2"></sup><sup class="text_citation" source_id="4"></sup>.