Earliest calculator ‘amazingly accurate’

AN ANCIENT astronomical calculator made at the end of the 2nd century BC was amazingly accurate and more complex than any instrument for the next 1,000 years, scientists have said.

The Antikythera Mechanism is the earliest known device to contain an intricate set of gear wheels. It was retrieved from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901, but until now its function has been a mystery.

Although the remains are fragmented in 82 brass pieces, scientists from Britain, Greece and the US have reconstructed a model of it using high-resolution tomography — production of precision X-rays.