The Antikythera Mechanism
In 1901, the Antiythera mechanism was pulled from a Roman shipwreck. It is believed to date from approximately 90 BC. For years no one knew what to make of the strange clock-like device until advanced digital radiographs revealed that it was a complex astronomical computer capable of predicting lunar and solar eclipses and the motion of the moon in the sky. Now Andrew Carol, a software engineer at Apple, has created a model of this ancient computer using Legos. While it lacks the compact beauty of the original. it does make the mechanism easier to understand.