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Who Invented Clock?
This device pursued us during the extended history of modern human civilization. Probably you are wondering when clocks were invented? Well, back in the ancient period sun represented the only way a person could reliably track time, in the modern-day widespread expansion of digital processing and atom clocks enable us to constantly be connected with clocks that never show the inaccurate time.
Throughout the history of humanity, there were several phases of clock designs, their original designers are lost to the history and their origins are not always clear.
The first, time measuring devices known to mankind are Sundials. These devices originally were created in Babylon over six thousand years ago, and in Ancient Egypt, they were developed into a more functional state. Sundials became an exceptionally useful analog clock device that stayed in continual usage for many thousands of years after, actually managing to survive until this day.
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In Egypt, with the creation of the first obelisks, the true beginning of sundial popularity commenced. A slim and tall stone structure’s shadow allowed the easy reading of time from the circular segmented horizontal disc that was positioned on the ground around it. Egyptians discovered the longest and shorted days [summer and winter solstice] with the help of such a powerful tool, they introduced a 10-hour daylight system, found the precise point of midday, and much more.
Greek and Roman empires welcomed and further dramatically improved Sundials. These Empires enabled the creation of much smaller and portable ones. Sundials remained in use even while Europe was going through the innovative phase of developing mechanical clocks, because of their precision and reliability in sunny weather. When mechanical clocks ultimately provided precise measurements of time [in the mid-1800s], sundials became outdated for governments and the commerce industry.
As their power source, the first mechanical watches utilized water. It was a Chinese polymath [a person whose expertise spanned a considerable number of various subject areas] Su Sung who devised the first mechanized water clock that worked on the principle of an escapement, even though Greek and Roman engineers tried to perfect this type of clock. Even in the 1st millennium BC [Pluto famously created the first water-based alarm clock]. Even though Su Sung’s clock never found popularity outside of China, its mechanical engineering demonstrated to be the foundation for modern European and Islamic clocks that were made during the following centuries.
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In the 13th and 14th centuries, European mechanical clocks that were not powered by water gradually started appearing, but their weight and sophistication made them functional only by scientists who made them. Jacob Zech of Prague in 1525 finally enabled mechanical analog clocks to function correctly [he based his device on earlier designs that were not utilized in clocks]. The mechanical analog clocks were further developed with the works of Galileo Galilei and Christiaan Huygens who introduced the pendulum.
The first modern clock was created by German inventor Peter Henlein, historically speaking. Around 1511 he introduced to the world the spring-driven clock. This simple device which frequently lost several hours over one day of work demonstrated to be an instrumental starting point for other inventors, who quickly concentrated their minds on solving the problem of creating an easy-to-use, small, sturdy, and most importantly precise clock.