The world’s oldest computer, the Antikythera Mechanism was found in 1901 during the excavation of a shipwreck off the island of Antikythera in the Aegan Sea. The world’s oldest computer has gained some experience, as scientists deem that its originally dating was incorrect, and that it is actually older than previous estimates. The Antikythera Mechanism is also known as one of the oldest astronomical calculators being able to accurately predict astronomical phenomena, as well as the position of the moon, sun and planets, while predicting lunar and solar eclipses. The machine has even been known to have calculated and predicting dates, meriting to experts its affiliation as the first analog computer.

The Antikythera Mechanism is made of complex bronze gears, assembled in a clocklike fashion with display dials of Greek mathematics, as it is widely believed to be heavily influenced by Greek scholars like Archimedes, Posidonious and Hipparchus. Inscriptions have also been found on the front and back of the ancient device.

The computer has been believed to have been inside a wooden box, operated by hand cranks on each of its sides. Originally researchers believed the device belong to around 87 BC, but according to recent reports, a new study has deemed the device to actually be from around 205 BC, roughly 100 years before it was ever though to exists and only seven years after Achimedes had been pronounced dead.

Unfortunately little is known about the Greek Astonomy of this time period. Only small slivers of work have survived over the decades and little has been found in those documents.

The device has been the apex of many books, replicas and computer tests, as the number of Greek scholars increases so will a demand for answers. Astronomers and archaeologists alike see the potential in understanding such a ancient form of mechanism and science. Last fall it was reported that an expedition led by Woods Hole and Greek scientists began to re-investigate the shipwreck were the device was first found in hopes to discover more clues about its origins.