Antikythera Mechanism

One of the world’s most distinguished scientific publications, Nature, conducted a survey on their blog regarding the best scientific video. The remarkable video above was one of the nominees. The video shows a reproduction of the Antikythera mechanism, also known as the Antikythera computer. The World’s Oldest Geared Device The Antikythera mechanism was found in the waters off the Greek island of Kythera in the year 1900. The world’s oldest geared device was built close to 100 years B.C. Reconstructions of the mechanism have led to the conclusion that it was something like the first analog computer. Scientists believe that it was used to calculate the movements of celestial bodies. As an engineer, what I find particularly fascinating is the fact that this magical device contains a differential gear, which was supposed to have been invented much later, in the 13th century. 1,400 years ahead of their time So I guess that when it comes to power transmission, the ancient Greeks were about 1,400 years ahead of their time! At Haas Schleifmaschinen, we aren’t that far ahead when it comes to developing grinding machines – but we’re working on it. ;) We don’t know how they manufactured these incredible gear teeth more than 2,000 years ago. Today this is done using high-precision tools. But one thing we do know is how to manufacture or sharpen such tools on a Multigrind® CA or Multigrind® CB.