An Animated Introduction to the Antikythera Mechanism: The World’s First Analog Pc from Historic Greece

From TED-Ed comes an ani­mat­ed intro­duc­tion to the Antikythera Mech­a­nism, an historic Greek system that dates again to the 2nd cen­tu­ry BCE. TED writes: “In 1900, Greek divers stum­bled upon a 2,000-year-old ship­wreck whose con­tents would shake our beneath­stand­ing of the traditional world. Among the many stays have been frag­ments of man­gled wooden and cor­rod­ed met­al, which archae­ol­o­gists quickly actual­ized have been elements of the previous­est geared system ever dis­cov­ered — and humankind’s first com­put­er. So, how did it work?” Above, sci­ence jour­nal­ist Max G. Levy explains the interior work­ings of the Antikythera Mech­a­nism and the way the Greeks put the system to make use of.

For individuals who need to take a deep­er dive into this historic ana­log com­put­er (there’s much more to be taught), we invite you to discover the titles within the Relat­eds sec­tion beneath. They’ll take you deep­er into this mar­vel of historic engi­neer­ing.

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Relat­ed Con­tent 

How the World’s Previous­est Com­put­er Labored: Recon­struct­ing the two,200-Yr-Previous Antikythera Mech­a­nism

Researchers Devel­op a Dig­i­tal Mod­el of the two,200-Yr-Previous Antikythera Mech­a­nism, “the World’s First Com­put­er”

A Ful­ly Func­tion­al Repli­ca of the Antikythera Mech­a­nism, the First Ana­log Com­put­er from Historic Greece, Re-Cre­at­ed in LEGO

How the Historic Greeks Invent­ed the First Com­put­er: An Intro­duc­tion to the Antikythera Mech­a­nism (Cir­ca 87 BC)