60 seconds make up minutes; 60 minutes per hour. But have you ever wondered, why? And, since when? Let’s take a break from the clocks and go back in time.
That one minute and an hour is 60 degrees for everyone is an idea that originated sometime in the 17th century, but it was a big jump that signaled the coming of modern science.
Before this, thousands of years ago, the ancients relied on the heavens for a time test; although they were large units. For example, year, month, week or day – all calculated with the help of the solar system and the moon.
The trouble started when someone wanted to split the day! Dividing the day was not as straightforward as dividing the week, although in the past we have seen the hours and minutes being calculated as usual but not as effective as the subsequent ones. However, before we move on, let’s take a look at the numerical system.
The Samaritans were the first to use 60 pieces in minutes and hours. When the world wrote (I am still writing) numbers using decimal (10) system as a basis, the Samaritans work duodecimal (12) and sex (60). Why he used it is not clear, but there are several ideas:
The Sumerians (later, the Egyptians also) had 12 important numbers, since:
The Asymia was defeated by Akkadians somewhere around 24 BC; which also fell to the Amorites, the builders of Babylon. About 1800 BC, the Babylonians emerged degree; that the court is made 360The and their production. He also served one year for 360 days; since the Sun – they believe – completes its orbit around the earth, changing position by 1 degree per day. The whole Babylonian star originated from this and the conquest of Alexander the Great (335 BC to 324 BC), the Babylonian celestial reaches Greek and India.
The Greeks used their own decimal (10) foundations, but the Babylonian celestial alliances formed a strong alliance with sex (60) a system, which the Greeks (and later, the Romans) could not abandon. Travel and trigonometry in later days came from the Babylonians.
Eratosthenes of Cyrene (the largest city in ancient North Africa) found the Earth to be round (1st years BC) and Hipparchus of Nicaea (an ancient city in modern-day Turkey), about 4th AD years calculated longitude and latitude by converting degrees into calculations. Then, two hundred years later, Ptolemy of Alexandria, a shared degree combines in the 60th and 60th of the 60th. The idea of minutes and seconds was born!
If we now look at Arabia, Iberia and Greater Europe after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire in the sixth century AD, we will see much of this knowledge fade away. However, the Islamic-Arabian empires began to adopt Roman ideas (and later, Indians) and expand their knowledge significantly. From the time of Rashidun Khalifa (7th AD (AD), Islamic scholars returned to Europe through the seventh century Umayyad Caliphate (8th Century AD) on the Iberian Peninsula to Cordoba Caliphate (10th Century AD) From this point on, the knowledge was conveyed to the Christian scholars of the Middle Ages and included many writings by Greek and Roman scholars who were considered – albeit incorrectly – to be lost. These notes were from Al-Khwarizmī (Persia polymath, 9th hundred years; famous for its fascinating works in mathematics, astronomy and geography) and Brahmagupta (An expert in India to provide computer control rules and zero; 7th Century AD)
It is the ancient astronomers who used it sex values again in the calculation of time. Notable among them is the 11th-century Persian scholar Al-Bīrūnī. His lunar calendar states specific days in hours, minutes and seconds, up to milliseconds and microseconds. During the entire month, it was Roger Bacon (an English scientist and Franciscan monk; 13th century) who used the same system but minutes and seconds were not part of daily time-keeping; instead, they are considered to be estimates of the measurement of time.
That was about the end of the 14thth in this century that clocks first appeared in Europe, but they only used one-hour clocks, following solar and water clocks. David S. Landes, in his book Revolution in Time (Belknap, 1983) referred to 16th-century astronomers as to using minutes and seconds to measure astronomy and clocks and seconds. This also increases the calculation made by sextants and quadrants.
Tycho Brahe (Danish scientist whose work contributed to the development of Kepler’s Planetary Motion Rules; 16th Century) produced more accurate time measurements than ever before, which also helped Sir Isaac Newton develop his theory of gravity.
What started 5000 years ago continues in recent years, but wait! Have we learned the modern meaning of a secondly? Well, that’s a long-term measure of changing the 9,192,631,770 Cesium atomic energy to achieve. If you have scientific equipment, you can read and find out how accurate your watch is!
Leave a comment to learn more about timing and its measurement tools. Or, let us know exactly where you think modern clocks are compared to a time of one second.
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