The Insanely Complicated History of Time

Tick. Tock. It's a sound you probably hear several times a day. Time dominates virtually every aspect of our lives, attuned to the rigid, unflinching regularity of Hours, Minutes and Seconds. The question how did our ancient ancestors figure out these units? Who came up with the concepts of timekeeping, like Minutes and Seconds, and why are there 60 of them, and not say, 100? The answers to such questions make up the topic of our video today- the first in a two-part series on the mysterious workings of Time.

This one was both a challenge and a privilege to work on, Part 2 will be released towards the end of the month and will be... different.

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Content Disclaimer:
All the content in this video was researched, written up, narrated and then put together by me (Sam). I do this as a full time job because I enjoy it. I do not use AI for any part of my creative process, and my voice is my personal property and not authorised to be replicated anywhere else. I do sometimes use AI-generated stock footage, but this is infrequent, sometimes unintentional, and usually when I can’t use anything else. Thank you for understanding.

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SOUNDTRACK (In order of appearance):

“Hologram” - CO.AG Music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPFkyyslcb4)
“Lost in the Motions of Time” - The Turquoise Moon
“Do Not Enter: Horror Background” - The Turquoise Moon
“Eyes of Quartz & Obsidian” - CO.AG Music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNULQQZJIMs)
“Calm Gratitude” - The Turquoise Moon
“Deep Meditation” - The Turquoise Moon
“Summer Evening Soundbath” - The Turquoise Moon
“An Ambient Dream” - The Turquoise Moon

CO.AG Music: https://www.youtube.com/@co.agmusic

FOOTAGE:

Multiple graphic sequences were provided by Storyblocks.com

The CGI space scenes in this video were captured using SpaceEngine Pro, a virtual universe simulator: http://spaceengine.org/
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Other visual resources provided by Vecteezy.com
Pro License Holder: https://www.vecteezy.com/members/sea-media-stock

Verge & Foliot Clock Footage: https://youtu.be/LyoH3juUSdo?si=lf6mWOe9-CkFsOJs

SOURCE LIST (For the video’s research):

“Who Invented Time?” The History of Timekeeping, GMT and More, History Co-Operative (https://historycooperative.org/who-invented-time/)

“Nine Quick Facts About the History of Timekeeping”, BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2Jzg3WT8LJMLFJGYKSzWXzp/nine-quick-facts-about-the-history-of-timekeeping

“The Sumerian Mathematical System” Mathematics Magazine (https://www.mathematicsmagazine.com/Articles/TheSumerianMathematicalSystem.php)

“Babylon, Ancient City in Mesopotamia” Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/place/Babylon-ancient-city-Mesopotamia-Asia)

“The Confusing Case of the Traveller’s Watch” Development of Clocks, GMT, Railway Time & More, Royal Museums Greenwich (https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/time/time-greenwich-mean-time-confusing-case-travellers-watch)

“180 Years of Railway Time” Network Rail (GB): https://www.networkrail.co.uk/stories/180-years-of-railway-time/

“Standardising Time: Railways and Electric Telegraph” Science Museum (https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/standardising-time-railways-and-electric-telegraph)

Fleming, Sandford. “Terrestrial Time: A Proposal for Worldwide Standard Time.” Transactions of the Canadian Institute, 1879.

“A Brief History of Atomic Time” National Institute of Standards and Technology (https://www.nist.gov/atomic-clocks/brief-history-atomic-time)

History of Time, Timekeeping, Metrology
Who invented Minutes? How Were Seconds invented?
How do clocks work? How do atomic clocks work?

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Tick Tock
2:58 Ancient Timekeeping
5:15 Timekeeping in Ancient Egypt
10:03 Maths in Mesopotamia
15:22 Pars Minuta
17:08 Mechanical Clocks
20:39 Railway Time
22:41 Greenwich Meantime
23:51 Quartz Clocks
26:18 Atomic Clocks