Time Gentlemen Please - a history of the measurement of time.

Barry Hamblin


Region:
South West
Notice Period:
Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
Type:
Antiquarian
Fee:
Paid: £60 plus travel expenses (30p/mile)
Category:
History
Updated:
22nd February 2024

Our measurement of time is based on two astronomical events:

  1. the orbit of the Earth around the Sun defines the year, and
  2. the spin of the Earth about its North/South axis defines the day.

Our calender was initially developed by the Romans and has a fascinating history. It was initially a lunar calender but developed into a solar calender. However, it has been shown that the lunar agricultural calenders used to indicate the best times to plant specific crops etc really do work and I find it fascinating.

Our day is divided in two lots of twelve hours with hours divided into sixty minutes and minutes into sixty seconds. Why were these numbers used ?

I became fascinated by this subject when I taught navigation to airline pilots. I found they understood the concepts better with some of this historical background to explain why and how we measure time the way we do.

PS I also repair clocks !

Views: 1632 | Enquiries: 14

About Barry Hamblin

After 25 years flying in the RAF as a navigator I found myself running a training company for airline pilots after doing a favour for a friend.

My wife has a lavender business (I am the tractor driver) and when she opened a shop which was too large for her sole use I closed my training company and took the spare half of the shop to indulge my passion for selling antiques. My wife and I give talks on the history of lavender, growing lavender and how it is used (see Lavender and Co) and this, together with being a trustee of our small but beautiful local museum and a love of antiques and history, has resulted in me giving number of talks on a variety of historical subjects.

The RAF trained me to instruct and I just love presenting the subjects I care so much about.


Send a message to the speaker

If you are interested in this talk and wish to contact the speaker, please complete the following form:

 
Please provide your contact name
 
Please provide the name of your group
 
Your phone number so that the speaker can contact you
 
Your email address so that the speaker can contact you
 
Give details about the event, time of day and location
Prove you are human please.
Use the slider to drag the puzzle so that the top and bottom are aligned , or use an alternate text based challenge by clicking here.
What is the 1st number in the list 22, seventeen and 5?
 

Site Search

Search across all speakers, topics and tags. Put your search term in the box and press enter or hit search

Use quotes around exact multiple word searches, eg "winston churchill".