The Most Powerful Computers You've Never Heard Of

Analog computers were the most powerful computers for thousands of years, relegated to obscurity by the digital revolution. This video is sponsored by Brilliant. The first 200 people to sign up via https://brilliant.org/veritasium get 20% off a yearly subscription. Thanks to Scott Wiedemann for the lego computer instructions – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X_Ft4YR_wU Antikythera Archive & Animations ©2005-2020 Images First Ltd. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ebB0tyrMa8 "The Antikythera Cosmos" (2021) follows the latest developments from the UCL Antikythera Research Team as they recreate a dazzling display of the ancient Greek Cosmos at the front of the Antikythera Mechanism. Tides video from NASA – https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/246/video-global-ocean-tides/ Ship animation from this painting – https://ve42.co/Agamemnon Moore’s Law, the op-amp, and the Norden bombsight were filmed at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. ▀▀▀ References: Freeth, T., Bitsakis, Y., Moussas, X., Seiradakis, J. H., Tselikas, A., Mangou, H., ... & Edmunds, M. G. (2006). Decoding the ancient Greek astronomical calculator known as the Antikythera Mechanism. Nature, 444(7119), 587-591. – https://ve42.co/Freeth2006 Freeth, T., & Jones, A. (2012). The cosmos in the Antikythera mechanism. ISAW Papers. – https://ve42.co/Freeth2012 Cartwright, D. E. (2000). Tides: a scientific history. Cambridge University Press. – https://ve42.co/tides Thomson, W. (2017). Mathematical and physical papers. CUP Archive. – https://ve42.co/Kelvinv6 Parker, B. B. (2007). Tidal analysis and prediction. NOAA NOS Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services. - https://ve42.co/Parker2007 Parker, B. (2011). The tide predictions for D-Day. Physics Today, 64(9), 35-40. – https://ve42.co/Parker2011 Small, J. (2013). The Analogue Alternative. Routledge. – https://ve42.co/Small2013 Zorpette, G. (1989). Parkinson's gun director. IEEE Spectrum, 26(4), 43. – https://ve42.co/Zorpette89 Tremblay, M. (2009). Deconstructing the myth of the Norden Bombsight (Doctoral dissertation). – https://ve42.co/Tremblay Gladwell, M. (2021). The Bomber Mafia. Little, Brown and Company. - https://ve42.co/Gladwell2021 Mindell, D. A. (2000). Automation’s finest hour: Radar and system integration in World War II. Systems, Experts, and Computers: The Systems Approach in Management and Engineering, World War II and After. Edited by A. C. Hughes and T. P. Hughes, 27-56. – https://ve42.co/Mindell Haigh, T., Priestley, M., & Rope, C. (2016). ENIAC in Action. The MIT Press. - https://ve42.co/Eniac2016 Soni, J., & Goodman, R. (2017). A mind at play: how Claude Shannon invented the information age. Simon and Schuster. – https://ve42.co/Soni Haigh, T. & Ceruzzi, P. (2021). A New History of Modern Computing. The MIT Press. - https://ve42.co/ModernComputing Rid, T. (2016). Rise of the Machines: a Cybernetic History. Highbridge. - https://ve42.co/Rid2016 Ulmann, B. (2013). Analog computing. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag. – https://ve42.co/Ulmann2013 ▀▀▀ Special thanks to Patreon supporters: Dmitry Kuzmichev, Matthew Gonzalez, Baranidharan S, Eric Sexton, john kiehl, Daniel Brockman, Anton Ragin, S S, Benedikt Heinen, Diffbot, Micah Mangione, MJP, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Edward Larsen, Burt Humburg, Blak Byers, Dumky, , Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Mac Malkawi, Michael Schneider, Ludovic Robillard, jim buckmaster, Juan Benet, Ruslan Khroma, Robert Blum, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Vincent, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Clayton Greenwell, Michael Krugman, Cy 'kkm' K'Nelson, Sam Lutfi, Ron Neal Written by Derek Muller, Stephen Welch and Emily Zhang Filmed by Derek Muller, Emily Zhang and Raquel Nuno Animation by Fabio Albertelli, Jakub Misiek, Mike Radjabov, Iván Tello, Trenton Oliver Edited by Derek Muller Additional video supplied by Getty Images Music from Epidemic Sound and Jonny Hyman Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev and Emily Zhang