From sundials to atomic clocks, our understanding of time has grow to be much more correct as technological developments allowed us to measure it extra exactly.
Much greater than serving to us arrive on time, clocks allow us to discern our location. Longitude, for instance, is set by measuring the distinction in time from a set place, information that accelerated early clock improvement within the 1700s. The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, was on the forefront of this technological rush. It was right here that Greenwich Mean Time was developed – a mean measure of photo voltaic time by astronomers to enhance accuracy. And English carpenter and clockmaker John Harrison was instrumental in growing the primary marine chronometers, which superior navigation expertise and accelerated ocean exploration. Britain subsequently turned the de facto dwelling of the Prime Meridian – a north-south line on the globe that acts because the zero level from which longitude is measured.
While Britain was far from the one nation serving to to define time, it performed a major position in its historical past. Louise Devoy, senior curator on the Royal Observatory, takes us on a whistle-stop tour of essentially the most vital clocks in its assortment.
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