Indiana Jones in Search of the Antikythera Mechanism

The Antikythera Mechanism takes center stage in the fifth installment of Indiana Jones, where Harrison Ford races against time to reclaim what many scientists believe is humanity’s first computer.

Allegedly created by an ancient Greek scientist Archimedes in the 3rd century BC, this incredibly complex mechanism, consisting of many gears, calculated and showed the movement of stars and celestial bodies.

Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Fate begins with the audience returning to 1944, when the hero tries to save part of the Antikythera mechanism from the hands of Mads Mikkelsen, a mad Nazi scientist.

25 years later, in 1969, Jones is troubled by the fact that the US government has hired ex-Nazis to help beat the Soviet Union in the spaceflight competition. His goddaughter Helena Shaw, daughter of his World War II ally Basil Shaw, accompanies him on his journey to retrieve the mechanism.

Meanwhile, Waller, now a member of NASA and a former Nazi involved in the moon landing program, wishes to make the world a better place as he sees fit.

Wheel of Fate is the first and only film in the series not directed by Steven Spielberg and written by George Lucas; Spielberg and Lucas serve as executive producers. It is also the first and only film in the series not to be distributed by Paramount, as Disney has acquired the rights to future sequels.

What was antikythera mechanismwho is “trying to rebuild Indiana Jones”? The day of the discovery of the Antikythera mechanism in 1901 is celebrated throughout the scientific world, and, according to many scientists, it is considered one of the most important in modern archeology. The mechanism was discovered inside an ancient sunken ship by Greek sponge divers on May 17, 1901. But scientists managed to understand the purpose of the device and decipher the symbols printed on it only in 2016. After numerous studies, it was found that it was built between 150 and 100 BC. More recent research has placed it at 205 BC, just seven years after Archimedes’ death.

The unusual object, which has haunted historians and scientists ever since, was split into 82 fragments, making it almost impossible for researchers to put it back together.

It is difficult to say who exactly created the Antikythera mechanism, but it is known that this is a machine for calculating the movement of celestial bodies, which, due to its complexity, can be called the first (from those discovered at the moment) analog computer. In fact, this is a calendar, but not a simple one, but with the functions of an astronomical, meteorological and cartographic device. The Antikythera Mechanism is considered the first instance of a mechanical solar system, a planetarium and an astronomical clock.

The Antikythera mechanism made it possible to track the position of the Sun and Moon, as well as determine the movement and position of the planets, major stars and constellations. It made it possible to calculate solar and lunar eclipses, and also determined important dates for the ancient Greeks (for example, the Olympic Games).

Michael Edmunds, a professor at Cardiff University, has led the study of the mechanism since 2006. He claims that the device was “simply extraordinary, unique and incomparable.” He says that the astronomical calculations made by the ancient mechanism are “perfectly correct and accurate”, and he “more valuable than the Mona Lisa”.

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