Antikythera mechanism
/ˌantɪkɪˈθɪərə ˌmɛkənɪz(ə)m/ /ˌantɪkɪˈθɪərə ˌmɛk(ə)nɪz(ə)m/(also Anticythera mechanism)
noun
A mechanical astronomical device believed to have been manufactured in ancient Greece in the first or second century b.c., fragments of which were discovered in 1900 amongst the cargo of an ancient shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera.
- When intact, the Antikythera mechanism operated via a complicated series of gears and could be used, among other things, to calculate the positions of the sun and the moon (and possibly also those of a number of planets), as well as to predict astronomical phenomena such as eclipses and the phase of the moon..
Origin
1950s; earliest use found in Scientific American. From the name of the island of Antikythera + mechanism.