Antikythera, the oldest computer in the world, gets a Lego replica

The first computer Analog found in history was the Antikythera, being a device made of bronze. To represent how it worked, a slightly unusual replica was made: in Lego pieces!

See below how the computer turned out old of the world in Lego!

Discover Antikythera

Image: Nature Magazine/Disclosure/YouTube

Discovered near the Island of Antikythera (hence its name), in southern Greece, in 1900, the artifact was located on the seabed and had already been completely corroded due to the action of time. After a long restoration process, it was found to be a historical object used in Ancient Greece.

Made of bronze, the researchers found that its 30 gears formed a very complex and advanced mechanism, which was used to predict celestial events and constellations, therefore being a type of analog computer.

It is believed that the object was used around 200 years BC and that its inventor was the great mathematician, engineer and astronomer Archimedes, who lived near Antikythera Island.

How did it work?

To understand how it works, the magazine Nature proposed the creation of its life-size replica made entirely of Lego.

With its two main discs, each one was responsible for a marking. The first disc marked the 12 main constellations that were seen in the region, which would later be defined as the 12 signs of the zodiac.

The other disc had a kind of Egyptian calendar, with 12 markings representing the 12 months with 30 days and 5 extra days, making up 365 days of the year.

To observe the constellations in their correct position, you needed to know the day and month of the year based on the Egyptian calendar or some other way of marking time at the time.

Once this was done, it was necessary to turn the crank to position the disc on the current date. Thus, it would indicate, through the hands, the astronomical cycles of the 12 Zodiac signs.