Posted on May 17, 2019
Computers are a part of our modern world.
Like, a major part! Computers are stand-alone objects that an enormous percentage of businesses own and that many families own, as well.
But computers are also a part of our planes and cars and phones and coffee makers and TVs and cash registers and stoves and traffic lights and amusement park rides and heating / air conditioning systems and electronic games and alarm clocks and microwaves and and and...
Well, lots of things have computers in them, in our modern world!
Did you know that there were "computers" before the modern age?
Before 1935, computers were humans who performed mathematical calculations. Hundreds of women, including many African American women, did computations for NASA and for the military during World War II. Some of these women even programmed the electronic computers that would replace them and take the name "computers."
Before NASA and WWII, there was the Analytical Engine / Difference Engine, the Victorian-Era machine created by Charles Babbage and Ada Byron (Countess of Lovelace). This hand-cranked mechanical computer anticipated a lot of aspects of electronic computers that were invented a century later! (Around 1850)
Before the Analytical Engine, Joseph Jacquard invented a loom programmed with punched cards. (Around 1800)
Before the Jacquard Loom, there was mathematician Blaise Pascal's mechanical calculator. (Around 1650)
Before Pascal's calculator, there was the slide rule. (1600s)
Before the slide rule, there was the abacus. (1300s)
And before the abacus, there was the Antikythera mechanism.
Discovered on this date in 1902, the Antikythera mechanism was a sort of analog computer invented by Ancient Greek scientists. It used a complex clockwork of more than 30 bronze gears that enabled it to follow the movements of the Moon and the Sun, including the fact that the Moon speeds up when it is closer to the Earth and slows down when it is farther away. The mechanism could be used to predict eclipses and other astronomical positions, including the position of the Sun in the zodiac (used in astrology).
This early marvel was probably created between 80 BCE to 200 BCE. It's interesting to note that the knowledge and technology reflected in this invention were lost to Europe for centuries - actually, a millennia and a half, around 1,500 years! It wasn't until the 1300s (the 14th Century) that Europeans invented mechanical astronomical clocks with as advanced technology.
Like, a major part! Computers are stand-alone objects that an enormous percentage of businesses own and that many families own, as well. 
But computers are also a part of our planes and cars and phones and coffee makers and TVs and cash registers and stoves and traffic lights and amusement park rides and heating / air conditioning systems and electronic games and alarm clocks and microwaves and and and...Well, lots of things have computers in them, in our modern world!
Did you know that there were "computers" before the modern age?
Before 1935, computers were humans who performed mathematical calculations. Hundreds of women, including many African American women, did computations for NASA and for the military during World War II. Some of these women even programmed the electronic computers that would replace them and take the name "computers."
Before NASA and WWII, there was the Analytical Engine / Difference Engine, the Victorian-Era machine created by Charles Babbage and Ada Byron (Countess of Lovelace). This hand-cranked mechanical computer anticipated a lot of aspects of electronic computers that were invented a century later! (Around 1850)
Before the Analytical Engine, Joseph Jacquard invented a loom programmed with punched cards. (Around 1800)
Before Pascal's calculator, there was the slide rule. (1600s)
Before the slide rule, there was the abacus. (1300s)And before the abacus, there was the Antikythera mechanism.
Discovered on this date in 1902, the Antikythera mechanism was a sort of analog computer invented by Ancient Greek scientists. It used a complex clockwork of more than 30 bronze gears that enabled it to follow the movements of the Moon and the Sun, including the fact that the Moon speeds up when it is closer to the Earth and slows down when it is farther away. The mechanism could be used to predict eclipses and other astronomical positions, including the position of the Sun in the zodiac (used in astrology).
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| You may wonder how archeologists know what these blobs of metal, which sat in salt water for a couple of thousand years before being discovered, used to be, what they did. Well, scientists are able to use x-ray tomography and high-resolution surface scanning to image inside fragments, gears, and inscriptions. Once they have all of this information, scientists can use modern computers to simulate what the ancient mechanism did, how it worked. |
This early marvel was probably created between 80 BCE to 200 BCE. It's interesting to note that the knowledge and technology reflected in this invention were lost to Europe for centuries - actually, a millennia and a half, around 1,500 years! It wasn't until the 1300s (the 14th Century) that Europeans invented mechanical astronomical clocks with as advanced technology.
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