Date reset on 2000-year-old ‘computer’
An ancient clock-like device that tracked the cycles of the solar system before the birth of Christ is more ancient than previously thought, a new study has found.
The Antikythera mechanism, also known as the world’s oldest computer by some scientists, was discovered inside an ancient shipwreck by Greek sponge divers in 1900-1901.
more…
CrazyNeutrino said:
Date reset on 2000-year-old ‘computer’An ancient clock-like device that tracked the cycles of the solar system before the birth of Christ is more ancient than previously thought, a new study has found.
The Antikythera mechanism, also known as the world’s oldest computer by some scientists, was discovered inside an ancient shipwreck by Greek sponge divers in 1900-1901.
more…
*The Antikythera mechanism, also known as the world’s oldest computer by some scientists, *
Just goes to show that some scientists are complete idiots, IMHO. It is not a computer by any stretch.
Reconstruction of the Antikythera device.
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/historyofscience/chostmpeople/wright
sibeen said:
CrazyNeutrino said:
Date reset on 2000-year-old ‘computer’An ancient clock-like device that tracked the cycles of the solar system before the birth of Christ is more ancient than previously thought, a new study has found.
The Antikythera mechanism, also known as the world’s oldest computer by some scientists, was discovered inside an ancient shipwreck by Greek sponge divers in 1900-1901.
more…
*The Antikythera mechanism, also known as the world’s oldest computer by some scientists, *
Just goes to show that some scientists are complete idiots, IMHO. It is not a computer by any stretch.
I wondered about that definition too …and was just viewing the article prior to visiting here.
I want one.
party_pants said:
I want one.
you would.
party_pants said:
A working model of the Antikythera Mechanism has been built with Lego. A few years back.
I want one.
Here is his page:
http://acarol.woz.org/antikythera_mechanism.html
sibeen said:
CrazyNeutrino said:
Date reset on 2000-year-old ‘computer’An ancient clock-like device that tracked the cycles of the solar system before the birth of Christ is more ancient than previously thought, a new study has found.
The Antikythera mechanism, also known as the world’s oldest computer by some scientists, was discovered inside an ancient shipwreck by Greek sponge divers in 1900-1901.
*The Antikythera mechanism, also known as the world’s oldest computer by some scientists, *
Just goes to show that some scientists are complete idiots, IMHO. It is not a computer by any stretch.
Mechanical computers
A mechanical computer is built from mechanical components such as levers and gears, rather than electronic components. The most common examples are adding machines and mechanical counters, which use the turning of gears to increment output displays. More complex examples could carry out multiplication and division—Friden used a moving head which paused at each column—and even differential analysis. One model sold in the 1960s calculated square roots.
Mechanical computers reached their zenith during World War II, when they formed the basis of complex bombsights including the Norden, as well as the similar devices for ship computations such as the US Torpedo Data Computer or British Admiralty Fire Control Table. Mechanical computers continued to be used into the 1960s, but were quickly replaced by electronic calculators, which—with cathode-ray tube output—emerged in the mid-1960s. The evolution culminated in the 1970s with the introduction of inexpensive handheld electronic calculators. Mechanical computers were ailing in 1970 and dead by 1980.
Noteworthy are mechanical flight instruments for early spacecraft, which provided their computed output not in the form of digits, but through the displacements of indicator surfaces. From Yuri Gagarin’s first manned spaceflight until 2002, every manned Soviet and Russian spacecraft Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz was equipped with a Globus instrument showing the apparent movement of the Earth under the spacecraft through the displacement of a miniature terrestrial globe, plus latitude and longitude indicators.
Examples
The Antikythera mechanism, ca. 100 BC
Pascaline, 1642 – Blaise Pascal’s arithmetic machine primarily intended as an adding machine which could add and subtract two numbers directly, as well as multiply and divide by repetition.
Stepped Reckoner, 1672 – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s mechanical calculator that could add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
Difference Engine, 1822 – Charles Babbage’s mechanical device to calculate polynomials.
Analytical Engine, 1837 – A later Charles Babbage device that could be said to encapsulate most of the elements of modern computers.
Marchant Calculator, 1918 – Most advanced of the mechanical calculators. The key design was by Carl Friden.
Kerrison Predictor (“late 1930s” ?)
Z1, 1938 by Konrad Zuse
Curta calculator, 1948
Moniac, 1949 – An analog computer used to model or simulate the UK economy.
Voskhod Spacecraft “Globus” IMP navigation instrument, early 1960s
Digi-Comp I, 1963, an educational 3-bit digital computerDr. NIM, mid 1960s, a mechanical computer that plays the game Nim
Digi-Comp II, mid 1960s, a rolling ball digital computer
Automaton – Mechanical devices that, in some cases, can store data and perform calculations, and perform other complicated tasks.
A computer is a device that accepts information (in the form of digitalized data) and manipulates it for some result based on a program or sequence of instructions on how the data is to be processed.
The Antikythera mechanism is a mechanical computer programmed to give a result
however electronic computers are far more flexible than mechanical computers
the author of the article should have stated in the heading that it is a mechanical computer
>the author of the article should have stated in the heading that it is a mechanical computer
computer is written ‘computer’ in single inverted commas does it, would have thought
Gee, and I thought a “computer” was a person who solved mathematical problems.
mollwollfumble said:
Gee, and I thought a “computer” was a person who solved mathematical problems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_computer
I’d say anything that computes is a computer
The brain is an organic computer
Computers are designed to compute on select problems