What is the most interesting but little known historical invention
Long before computers, satellites, or even mechanical clocks, ancient Greek engineers developed a device so advanced that its true purpose puzzled scientists for over a century. The Antikythera Mechanism, often called the world’s first analog computer, is a stunning testament to ancient ingenuity—an invention nearly lost to history and still not widely known among the public. Discovered in 1901 among the remains of a 2,000-year-old shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, the corroded fragments of bronze gears initially seemed to be part of some obscure nautical instrument. It wasn’t until the late 20th and early 21st centuries that advanced imaging techniques and interdisciplinary research revealed the full brilliance of the device. Dated to around 100 BCE, the Antikythera Mechanism was used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses decades in advance. It tracked the movements of the Sun, Moon, and possibly the five known planets at the time—Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, a...