The Infinite Monkey Cage
What’s the time? - Marcus Brigstocke, Leon Lobo, Louise Devoy
November 19, 202542 min · 8,019 words
Show notes
Robin Ince and Brian Cox wind up at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich – arguably the centre of time – to uncoil the mysteries of what time is and how on Earth (…and on moon) we keep track of it. Taking the time to join them are comedian Marcus Brigstocke, curator of the Royal Observatory Louise Devoy, and Head of the National Timing Centre Leon Lobo.
Highlighted moments
so in 1847, the railway companies all decided to use Greenwich Mean Time across the whole network. Because originally, the timetables were based on the railway terminus, whether that was in Cardiff, Liverpool, or wherever. So you'd have about a 30-minute variation across the whole country.
“They had 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness, and that made really good sense from the latitude of Egypt because the daylight only varies between 10 to 14 hours across the year. But also 12 was their favourite number because if you've got your four fingers, you've got your three joints, you can count to 12.”
“the devices that we use now to tell us what duration and time is second are accurate and stable at a second over 158 million years, give or take a second.”
Transcript
Transcript not available for this episode yet.
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