Greek civilization has always been considered one of the greatest in the history of mankind.Magnificent ancient architecture, stunning statues and sculptures, legendary ancient Greek epic and mythology.Until now, in Greece, archaeologists dig up new unexplained findings, some of them decipher immediately, but over the destination of some scientists scratching their heads to this day.
the spring of 1901 two ships diving for sponges floated by Greece.Deciding once again try his luck in their craft, they cast anchor near the Greek island of Antikythera.Imagine their surprise when instead they need marine animal they found submerged ancient ship!They dragged from the seabed of the ancient objects on your boat and rushed to the mainland.Soon the news of the ship found spread throughout Greece, and a year later a team of scientists went to investigate this place.On the surface it was raised by numerous archaeological finds.Among other artifacts Valeriosom Staisom Greek archaeologists found several bronze gears of unknown origin.
Antikythera Mechanism as it is dubbed by historians of the time, was in a terrible state.Frame made of wood literally crumbled in their hands, metal, being a long time on the sea floor, bent and rusty.Many parts simply disappeared.The inscriptions on the ruins were hard to read, sometimes blurred.To establish that it was for the device did not succeed.Scientists threw up his hands and left the Antikythera Mechanism to study the offspring.
been nearly half a century.New technologies and research methods.In 1951 he became interested in finding antique English physicist and historian Derek de Solla Price.Having carefully studied the subject, he came to a surprising conclusion: the Antikythera Mechanism is an ancient and very first analog computer, created in the 2nd century BC!It was sort of mechanical astronomical calendar, by which it was possible not only to determine the position of the moon and sun, but also to produce complex astronomical calculations.While in ancient Greece saw the flowering of the exact sciences: the directory was created by a starry sky, the distance from Earth to the Moon, to describe the motion of planets five public, was calculated the approximate mass of the Earth.Against the background of these findings can not believe in the existence of an astronomical computer, the creation of which is now attributed to the ancient Greek scholar Posidonius.
Currently Antikythera Mechanism is presented in the form of several existing reconstructions.Modern scientists are still deciphering the artifact.Recently, it was found out that the antique instrument shows another important parameter for the time - namely, the time of the next Olympic Games, which were to the Greeks, not only sports, but also a political event.At this time, Antikythera Mechanism is located in the Athens National Archaeological Museum.
