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.

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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

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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