This article is more than 1 year old
Apple chap knocks up ancient Lego computer
The plastic fantastic Antikythera Mechanism
Apple software engineer Andrew Carol has rather impressively put together a replica of the ancient Antikythera Mechanism - built entirely from Lego.
The mechanism, constructed around 80BC, was recovered from the wreck of a cargo ship off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901, but wasn't until 2006 revealed to be a planetary motion calculator.
Carol has, with a big bucket of Lego and the backing of Digital Science, demonstrated how the contraption may have been used to calculate eclipses:
There's an in-depth look at the machinations of the real Antikythera Mechanism down at Nature. ®