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Post by Steam Girl on Dec 30, 2008 21:58:05 GMT -5
Horology is the study of clocks and follows the history and variations of clocks and time. Generally clocks measure the movements of the Sun and/or Moon and divide time into units (hours, minutes, seconds). The most ancient time keeping device is the standing stick. The Egyptians built tall timekeeping pillars called Cleopatra’s Needles in 1500 BC. Sundials followed as the next leap in technology and were able to keep a more accurate measure of time by being oriented north and parallel to the Earth’s axis. Su Song made the next leap with a clepsydra (a water clock) in the 11th century. This was followed by oil clocks and hour glasses. Clocks are part of economic and social history, transportation, commerce, astronomy, physics, mathematics, and philosophy. Advancements in clock building led progress to other sciences, quietly contributing from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution. Before the twentieth century clocks were a microcosm of design and ingenuity. Clocks had enormous regional variation and were made in small, local shops by men who inscribed their names on the dial or face of each creation.
This was just a little bit of information to get the thread going.
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