This unique device has overturned our understanding of the ancient world. However, the history of the Antikythera mechanism, named after the Greek island of Antikythera, from whose waters its fragments were raised, is full of dark spots. For many decades, it was kept in the National Archaeological Museum of Greece, not attracting much attention.
In the scientific community, its existence was known, but even scholars could not believe that this was not a hoax, and that this remarkable mechanism, used for calculating the movements of celestial bodies, had truly reached us from the depths of time. It was only thanks to the enthusiasm of a few scholars who could not pass by this mystery that the mechanism was dated and reconstructed. More than a century has passed since this incredible find, but only now can it be said that its mystery has finally been revealed. Nevertheless, work on the study of the Antikythera mechanism continues and is far from completion.
The book by Joe Merchant tells about how the "first computer" was found, about the people who dedicated themselves to its study, and about the most astonishing mechanisms in human history.