Okay, the Antikythera mechanism seems to haunt me this week. First, I decide to re-read Richard Feynman‘s What Do You Care What Other People Think?, and from a trip to Greece Feynman writes to his family about a strange, ancient mechanism he saw at the Athens National Museum (more info). This rings a bell because I read an article about it in the most recent edition of Die Zeit (see link below). And today, there’s this at the Astronomy Picture of the Day: The Antikythera Mechanism, crediting the corresponding Wikipedia article on the Antikythera Mechanism. There are several articles about the mechanism, which was found in 1910 but is over 2,000 years old:

Science News: Crusty Old Computer: New imaging techniques reveal construction of ancient marvel.

“Scientists say that they have figured out the arrangement and functions of nearly all the parts of a mysterious mechanical gadget that was discovered a century ago in a 2,000-year-old shipwreck.”

Scientific American: An Ancient Greek Computer?

Der oben erwähnte Zeit-Artikel:
Wissen: Das Urwerk.

“Taucher bargen vor hundert Jahren ein undurchschaubares Räderwerk aus einem Schiffswrack. Erst heute entschlüsseln Forscher sein Geheimnis. Die Griechen waren die ersten Meister der Feinmechanik.”

Sehenswert ist auch die dazu gehörende Bildergalerie.