Decoding The Heavens Av Jo Marchant

<p>In 1900 a group of sponge divers blown off course in the Mediterranean discovered an Ancient Greek shipwreck dating from around 70 BC. <br><br>Lying unnoticed for months amongst their hard-won haul was what appeared to be a formless lump of corroded rock, which turned out to be the most stunning scientific artefact we have from antiquity. For more than a century this ''Antikythera mechanism'' puzzled academics, but now, more than 2000 years after the device was lost at sea, scientists have pieced together its intricate workings. <br><br>In <i>Decoding the Heavens</i>, Jo Marchant tells for the first time the story of the 100-year quest to understand this ancient computer. Along the way she unearths a diverse cast of remarkable characters - ranging from Archimedes to Jacques Cousteau - and explores the deep roots of modern technology not only in Ancient Greece, the Islamic world and medieval Europe.</p>