The mysterious Antikythera Mechanism is considered by some scientists to be the world's first computer. This computer was first turned on on December 22, 178 BC.
Archaeologists have now found the object in a Roman-era shipwreck near the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901. The ancient computer looked like a shoebox-sized device with gears and a dial with many small inscriptions written on it.
Quoted from Live Science, among its many functions, this device is said to be able to predict eclipses and calculate scores of various athletic events as they take place.
Over the years, researchers have painstakingly collected many fragments of the Antikythera mechanism to find out how this device was made and how it was used some 2,000 years ago.
There are many questions about this device, who made it? Where are they live? Why make it and when? Now, a team of scientists date the ancient device was "turned on" for the first time by detailing their findings online in the preprint database arXiv, an online journal where research can be uploaded before peer review.
However, scientists not affiliated with the study cast doubt on the claim. They say that the start date of this ancient computer was probably 204 BC.
In their paper, the researchers pinpoint a number of reasons why they think December 22, 178 BC is the date the Antikythera Mechanism was first ignited. It's like absolute zero on the kelvin scale.
First, there was a solar eclipse that day, which lasted more than 12 minutes. Second, the following day, December 23, was the winter solstice, an important day among many ancient people.
They also note that the festival of Isis (a celebration of the Egyptian goddess Isis) was held in Egypt and Greece at the time. In addition, the Moon phase begins on December 22 of that year.
"This combination of events creates a very rare coincidence that will make for an unforgettable early day," the researchers wrote.
The start date "should be very distinctive, important and easy to detect," said Aristeidis Voulgaris, lead author of the paper and team leader of the Antikythera Mechanism-The FRAMe Project's Functional Reconstruction.
It's possible that whoever created the Antikythera Mechanism witnessed this day and remembered the cosmic event, but there's no way to be sure.
"Usually, to perform time calculations, it is more common to select dates from the past rather than future dates," the researchers wrote.
Scholars' reactions
A number of scholars who are not affiliated with the study have expressed their views on the findings of this ancient computer. Many of them were skeptical.
"This is not a paper that would withstand competent peer review," said Alexander Jones, professor in the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity, New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.
"There are many problems with these claims of ancient computers, ranging from major problems to minor problems which are however symptomatic of a lack of good grounding in the broad context of ancient astronomy and science," Jones said.
For example, Jones points out that this start date will place Kraneios, the season written on the Antikythera Mechanism for the grape harvest season in February, which is not a good month for ripe grapes.
"Two papers published in 2014 suggest that the start date is 204 BC," Jones added.
The two papers show that the predicted order of eclipses has been calculated for a unique interval of 223 months beginning in 204 BC. It was scheduled to begin on May 12, 204 BC and conclude with a lunar eclipse.