The Antikythera Mechanism is the oldest known scientific computer, built in Greece at around 100 BCE. Lost for 2000 years, it was recovered from a shipwreck in 1901. But not until a century later was its purpose understood: an astronomical clock that determines the positions of celestial bodies with extraordinary precision.
Consider this: the philosopher who built the original had to have done all the math to know what ratios to make the gears in his head, or at least without the aid of modern computers.
