History of extremely precise time-keeping

[nancylebov]

From New Scientist:

I thought it couldn't get better than keeping track of atomic vibrations, but it turns out that some atoms vibrate faster than others, external factors can affect the frequency, it's hard to keep count, and if you're really trying hard, you have to take gravity into account. After you've done all that, you get the challenge of keeping ultra-precise clocks in sync with each other.

Comments

[madfilkentist]

Speaking of timekeeping, on Friday Unix time (time in seconds since the base time of December 31, 1969) will reach 1234567890.

[zenlizard]

Man with one atomic clock always know what time it is; man with two atomic clocks never sure.