In 1901, sponge divers off the coast of Antikythera, Greece, discovered a Roman-era shipwreck. Amid statues and amphorae, they recovered a corroded bronze lump the size of a shoebox. For decades, it was dismissed as a navigational tool, or a curiosity. Then it was x-rayed. Inside were dozens of interlocking bronze gears, crafted with surgical precision. Ancient Greek inscriptions. Rotating dials. A mathematical soul. What had surfaced was not debris. It was the first known an
