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In 1901, divers exploring the remains of a shipwreck off the coast of Greece discovered a contraption believed to have been used by Ancient Greeks to predict solar eclipses. The Antikythera Mechanism was composed of a fixed ring dial representing the 12 months of the Egyptian calendar and an inner ring representing the 12 zodiac signs. Inside, a complex assembly of bronze gears mechanically replicated the irregular motions of the Moon caused by its elliptical orbit around the Earth through the use of two gear-wheels, one of which was slightly off-center, connected by a pin. Regarded as the world’s first analog computer, the Antikythera Mechanism involved remarkably intricate physics considering that, only 300 years earlier, the Ancient Greeks still believed the world was flat. Accurately predicting lunar and solar eclipses, as well as solar, lunar, and planetary positions, it predated similar technology by 1,000 years. The timing and nature of its existence remains one of science’s great puzzles to this day. How and by whom was it created?

Today, scientists understand much more about the complexities of the orbital revolutions that cause solar eclipses to occur; for instance, the Earth’s orbit around the Sun is also elliptical such that, depending on the time of year, the Earth is gradually traveling nearer to or farther from the Sun. Further, since the plane of the Moon’s revolution around the Earth is not the same as the plane of the Earth’s revolution around the Sun, all calculations predicting a solar eclipse must be completed in three dimensions. While in modern times the use of satellites, telescopes, and other high-tech equipment has greatly enhanced our capacity for such calculations, when the Antikythera Mechanism was created, the sole source of information available to scientists was observation of the night sky. It is thus not surprising that, under certain circumstances, the device is inaccurate by up to 38 degrees; what is astonishing is that the device is remarkably accurate over a wide range of conditions.

Recent analysis dating the device to 205 BC, earlier than previously thought, suggests that the eclipse prediction mechanism was based not on Greek trigonometry but on Babylonian arithmetical methods borrowed by the Greeks. This conjecture makes plausible Cicero’s claim that Archimedes created the mechanism, as Greek trigonometry was nonexistent in 205 BC.