{"id":21,"date":"2026-07-07T17:53:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T17:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bendix-g15.org\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2026-07-11T18:52:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:52:32","slug":"exhibits","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bendix-g15.org\/?page_id=21","title":{"rendered":"Exhibits"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Antikythera Mechanism<\/div>
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Antikythera Mechanism<\/b>
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\nHow old is the first mechanical analog computer? Would you believe it’s so old that the exact date is uncertain? It was developed in the 1st century BC! The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient device used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses. It was found in a long-lost shipwreck off the Greek Island, Antikythera, in 1900. Little was known about its use and complexity for nearly a century, though the Antikythera mechanism attracted much curiosity\u2014including a 1978 exploration by Jacques Cousteau. The ancient Greeks developed the Antikythera mechanism. Believed to be the only device of its kind, no calculation devices would surface again until the 14th century when mechanical astronomical clocks were constructed in Western Europe.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Chinese Abacus (SuanPan)<\/div>
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Chinese Abacus (SuanPan)<\/div><\/div>

Designer: China
\nYear: Prior to 1573
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\nOur Museum Curator, Bob Roswell, received an abacus as a gift. When he tried to learn to use it with a book called “The Japanese Abacus,” the abacus did not work. The book was about the Japanese abacus which has has four earth beads and one heaven bead. But the gift was a Chinese abacus (suanpan) with five earth beads and two heaven beads.
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\nThe moral of the story is that we have a very long history of incompatible computer systems.
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\nThe Chinese abacus computes in both decimal and hexadecimal.<\/p>\n

It’s origin are unknown but it is known to have been used as early as 750 BCE in Babylonia and China and is therefore one of the oldest known calculation tools.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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