Was ancient Greek 'calculator' used to teach astronomy?

摘要

Inscriptions on a mysterious 2000-year-old clockwork device suggest that the artefact was inspired by earlier devices made by the great Greek mathematician Archimedes.rnThe so-called "Antikythera mechanism" has puzzled historians since it was salvaged from an ancient shipwreck near the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901. It dates back to about 100 BC, and consists of more than 30 bronze gearwheels and pointers, enclosed in a wooden case.rnThe device is by far the most advanced scientific instrument to survive from antiquity - nothing else close to its complexity shows up in archaeological records for more than 1200 years, when mechanical clocksrnappeared in medieval Europe.rnThe Antikythera mechanism is thought to be a mechanical computer, which used sophisticated algorithms to calculate the motions of celestial bodies.