Maths - History of time
Updated 21 Nov 2019
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Created byCharlotte Best
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Sundials - First ever sundials, built in Egypt after being imported from Babylon. Many ancient structures were built to mark the passage of time and determine arrival of planting seasons and harvest times.Proof of sundial - first archaeological proof of sun dial existence.Transmission gears - first simple transmission gears created by ArchimedesCandle Clock - Some cultures mark the passage of time by measuring time it takes to burn oil, incense and candles.Hourglasses - Introduction of sand glass clocks.Candle markings - Candle clocks now have markings to keep time. (Introduced in medieval Europe.)Water clock - First mechanical water clock created by Chinese innovator.Mechanical clocks - First apperance of small, domectic (table) mechanical clocks.Mechanical Pocket Watch - First mechanical watch created in German cities of Nuremberg by Peter Henlein. These models were either fastened to belts or carried around the neck and they measured only passage of hours.Screws being used - Screws became used for clocks, enabling much smaller designs that kept time much better than first models.Town Clock - First public tower clock fixed on one of the towers in Hampton Court Palace, England.Minutes - Jost Burgi invented the minute hand, even though 16th century clocks were very inaccurate.Pendulum - Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo discovered the properties of pendulum.Enamel Dials - French inventor and clockmaker Paul Viet of Blois introduced first enamel dials.Pendulum clock - Famous Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens created first pendulum controlled clock.Enlightenment era in Europe brought many advances to clock mechanisms. Need for accurate maritime chronometers soon enabled ordinary and cheap watches to become very accurate. This accuracy can be attributed to the inventions of Pierre Le Roy and Thomas Earnshaw who introduced to the public temperature compensated balance wheel.First electric clock was created by Edinburgh clockmaker Alexander Bain.Time zones - Standardization of time zones. England received GMT time zone with Greenwich becoming prime meridian for measuring longitude in entire world.Modern clock - First modern electric clock created by Frank Hope-Jones. This clock became base of all modern clocks that are created today.Atoms - Physicist Isador was first to suggest that oscillations of atoms (atomic-beam magnetic resonance) can be used to create extremely precise clocks.Seconds - A Second is formally defined not trough movements of celestial bodies but as 9,192,631,770 vibrations of the cesium atom.Periods
Several important watch inventions - George Graham invented mercurial compensation pendulum and dead-beat escapement for clocks, John Harrison invented grid-iron compensation pendulum and George Graham invented the cylinder escapement.
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