Mind-Benders of Islamic History
A 13th-century engineer built a machine you could reprogram
In 1206, the year of his death, al-Jazari completed "The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices," describing some fifty machines with step-by-step build instructions. Among them was a water-driven musical automaton whose drummer's rhythm could be changed by rearranging pegs — an arrangement often cited as an early example of a programmable machine.
How we know
Ismāʿīl ibn al-Razzāz al-Jazarī, c. 1136–1206; Kitāb fī maʿrifat al-ḥiyal al-handasiyya completed 1206, describing ~50 devices in six categories, incl. a musical-automaton boat with a peg/cam-programmable drummer (Donald R. Hill trans., 1974).
One of many fact-checked wonders across eight traditions at The Spring of Wisdom.