Scientists may have solved ancient mystery of 'first computer'
From the moment it was discovered more than a century ago, scholars have puzzled over the Antikythera mechanism, a remarkable and baffling astronomical calculator that survives from the ancient world.
The hand-powered, 2,000-year-old device displayed the motion of the universe, predicting the movement of the five known planets, the phases of the moon and the solar and lunar eclipses. But quite how it achieved such impressive feats has proved fiendishly hard to untangle.
Now researchers at UCL believe they have solved the mystery – at least in part – and have set about reconstructing the device, gearwheels and all, to test whether their proposal works. If they can build a replica with modern machinery, they aim to do the same with techniques from antiquity.
“We believe that our reconstruction fits all the evidence that scientists have gleaned from the extant remains to date,” said Adam Wojcik, a materials scientist at UCL. While other scholars have made reconstructions in the past, the fact that two-thirds of the mechanism are missing has made it hard to know for sure how it worked.
The mechanism, often described as the world’s first analogue computer, was found by sponge divers in 1901 amid a haul of treasures salvaged from
For a few days this week, a tiny mountain village in the Aosta valley sprang back to life as it became abuzz with Hollywood stars.
Gressoney-Saint-Jean, which lies at the bottom of Monte Rosa, was the first location in Italy for the filming of Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, based on the true story of the killing of the former chief of the fashion house, Maurizio Gucci, by his ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani.
As with all ski resorts in Italy, Gressoney-Saint-Jean, home to about 800 people, was forced to cut off its seasonal lifeline because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The loss of the ski season has caused huge economic damage,” Mattia
Alliod, the mayor of Gressoney-SaintJean, said. “For months we have been closed and have had no visitors, apart from those who have been able to come to their second homes over the last few weeks. So as you can imagine, the arrival of the film crew was like a breath of fresh air.”
A behind-the-scenes photo of Lady Gaga, who plays Reggiani in the film, and Adam Driver, who portrays Maurizio Gucci, taken on the balcony of