Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

The church of St Mary of Ottery in the County of Devon Whitham, John A ca1960 • PAMPHLET • 1 copy available. 681.113(423.5)

On the choice of instruments for stellar photography Grubb, Howard, Sir 1887 • PAMPHLET • 1 copy available. 520.24

New arrangement of electrical control for driving clocks of equatorials Grubb, Howard, Sir 1887 • PAMPHLET • 1 copy available. 520.2.075

Time tamed : the remarkable story of humanity's quest to measure time /Nicholas Foulkes. ''For more than 25,000 years, mankind has sought to understand and measure the passing of time, in the process creating some of the most remarkable and beautiful timepieces. Now, in Nicholas Foulkes's lavishly illustrated book, the battle to tame time is brought vividly to life. From the baboon bone dating back to the palaeolithic era that marked the lunar cycle and on to the 3500-year-old water clock at Karnak, from our earliest days mankind has sought to track the passing of time. More recently, the struggles to measure longitude and to create a workable train timetable across the vast, open expanse of the United States have inspired new developments. In Time Tamed, Nicholas Foulkes reveals how we have done this by focusing on some of the most significant developments in timekeeping across the ages. He also highlights the most stunning and lavish clocks and watches in history - from Big Ben to Rolex - for telling the time has never been purely about function, but also about design. The book is filled with remarkable tales, from the 14th century monk in St Albans who created one of the first mechanical clocks to the Holy Roman Emperor who built a clock into an automated ship that fired a cannon to summon guests to dinner. More recently, there was the Surrey woman who used a Napoleonic era watch to 'deliver' the accurate time to London shopkeepers in the wartime era of Churchill, or the Swiss denture maker who solved a tricky problem for the Indian Raj's polo players. Time Tamed is a book you'll want to spend many hours enjoying.''--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 681.11309

Notice historique sur la grosse-horloge de Rouen : son antiquite et sa remarquable conservation Hainaut, Robert-Louis 1887 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 681.113.3(442.5)

Horological Journal 1858- • JOURNAL • 1 copy available.

The memoirs of Louis Essen : father of atomic time /National Physical Laboratory & Ray Essen. Memoirs of Louis Essen (1908-1997), an experimental physicist who worked at the British National Physical Laboratory from 1929 to 1990. Primarily known as the inventor of the Atomic Clock (in 1955) he also worked on microwave radio frequency testing during the Second World War, oscillators, measuring the speed of light and radio time (and many more). Later in his career he became a critic of Einstein's Relativity which did not please the wider scientific community. The book contains written memoirs by Essen but also discussions by the author expanding on Essen's notes. Contains many colour images and diagrams of physics paraphernalia. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available.

Kendall's longitude "Lost at sea: every mariner's fear. Maritime navigational tools could find latitude, but finding longitude remained elusive until Harrison developed the reliable sea clock, H4. Building on H4's success, Kendall made a series of nautical timekeepers, K1, K2 and K3. This is the story of the K2 timekeeper; its adventurous voyages, the people it touched, and its place in history. K2's first voyage, accompanied by the young Nelson, was nearly its last in the crushing Arctic ice. The next two expeditions saw it survive kidnappings, nautical intrigue, and gunpowder plots of the American revolutionary wars. The slave coasts of Africa followed. Bligh took K2 on the Bounty, but lost it in a fight with the mutineers in 1789. It was recovered by an American Quaker from Nantucket, only to be stolen by the Spanish. It rode on mules along the Andes before sailing into the Opium Wars. K2 finally returned to Greenwich in 1963."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 527

Unrolling time : Christian Huygens and the mathematization of nature /Joella G. Yoder. "This case study examines the interrelationship between mathematics and physics in the work of one of the major figures of the Scientific Revolution: the Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, Christian Huygens (1629?1695). Joella Yoder details the creative interaction that led Huygens to invent a pendulum clock that theoretically beat absolutely uniform time, to measure the constant of gravitational acceleration, to analyze centrifugal force, and to create the mathematical theory of evolutes. In the second half of the book, Dr Yoder places Huygens's work in the context of his time by examining his relationship with other scientists and the priority disputes that sometimes motivated his research. The role of evolutes in the history of mathematics is analyzed; the reception of Huygens's masterpiece, the Horologium Oscillatorium of 1673, is described; and finally, the part that Christian Huygens played in the rise of applied mathematics is addressed."--Back cover. 2002. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92HUYGENS

Making time fit : Astronomers, artisans and the state, 1770-1820 /Eoin Edward Phillips "This thesis focuses on the relationship between the clock- and watch-making communities in London and the institutions and personnel associated with the Admiralty, East India Company and the Board of Longitude, in the British effort to manage an effective solution for finding longitude at sea. The thesis identifies a strict cohort of Greenwich-trained personnel (mostly astronomers) and instruments (timekeepers, textbooks, tents) that emerged from the Royal Observatory from the 1770s onwards. It follows their production, testing and training in England, their experience and deployment around the world on a range of voyages, through to the impact made by their journeys back in the metropolis. By following the paths traced by these instruments, makers and users, the thesis proposes a new account of the relations between industrial transformation and imperial power in the period 1770-1820."--Provided by the author. 2014 • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 582.282

Vente du mobilier de Jean-Casimir en 1673 = Wyprzedaçz mienia po Janie Kazimierzu w roku 1673 /by Ryszard Szmytki. Szmytki, Ryszard. 1995. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 709/.03/2074

Sundials at Greenwich : a catalogue of the sundials, nocturnals and horay quadrants in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich /Hester Higton ; with contributions by Silke Ackermann [et al.] A catalogue of sundials held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, containing full entries on all items in the Museum's collection. All entries are illustrated, with the most significant in colour. 2002. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 529.78(083.82)

Instruments and the imagination / Thomas L. Hankins and Robert J. Silverman. "Thomas Hankins and Robert Silverman investigate an array of instruments from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century that seem at first to be marginal to science--magnetic clocks that were said to operate by the movements of sunflower seeds, magic lanterns, ocular harpsichords (machines that played different colored lights in harmonious mixtures), Aeolian harps (a form of wind chime), and other instruments of "natural magic" designed to produce wondrous effects. By looking at these and the first recording instruments, the stereoscope, and speaking machines, the authors show that "scientific instruments" first made their appearance as devices used to evoke wonder in the beholder, as in works of magic and the theater. The authors also demonstrate that these instruments, even though they were often "tricks," were seen by their inventors as more than trickery. In the view of Athanasius Kircher, for instance, the sunflower clock was not merely a hoax, but an effort to demonstrate, however fraudulently, his truly held belief that the ability of a flower to follow the sun was due to the same cosmic magnetic influence as that which moved the planets and caused the rotation of the earth. The marvels revealed in this work raise and answer questions about the connections between natural science and natural magic, the meaning of demonstration, the role of language and the senses in science, and the connections among art, music, literature, and natural science."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 681.2

The colonisation of time : ritual, routine and resistance in the British Empire /Giordano Nanni. This book is a highly original and long overdue examination of the ways that western-European and specifically British concepts and rituals of time were imposed on other cultures as a fundamental component of colonisation during the nineteenth century. Based on a wealth of primary sources and a comparative analysis of two British settler-colonies - Victoria, Australia, and the Cape Colony, South Africa - it explores the intimate relationship between the colonisation of time and the conquest of land. It documents the remarkable story behind the rise to global dominance of western-time - from the clock to the seven-day week - revealing its status as one of the most enduring, pervasive and taken-for-granted legacies of colonialism in today's world.--From the publisher. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 941-44:681.11

Timekeepers : how the world became obsessed with time /Simon Garfield. "Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana. The Beatles learn to be brilliant in an hour and a half. An Englishman arrives back from Calcutta but refuses to adjust his watch. Beethoven has his symphonic wishes ignored. A US Senator begins a speech that will last for 25 hours. The horrors of war are frozen at the click of a camera. A woman designs a ten-hour clock and reinvents the calendar. Roger Bannister lives out the same four minutes over a lifetime. And a prince attempts to stop time in its tracks. Timekeepers is a book about our obsession with time and our desire to measure it, control it, sell it, film it, perform it, immortalise it and make it meaningful. It has two simple intentions: to tell some illuminating stories, and to ask whether we have all gone completely nuts."--Provided by the publisher. 2017. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 681.111/.118

European clocks and watches : In the Metropolitan Museum of Art /Clare Vincent "Among the worlds great technological and imaginative achievements is the invention and development of the timepiece. Examining for the first time the Metropolitan Museums unparalleled collection of European clocks and watches created from the early middle ages through the 19th century, this fascinating book enriches our understanding of the origins and evolution of these ingenious works. It showcases 54 extraordinary clocks, watches, and other timekeeping devices, each represented with an in-depth description and new photography showing the exterior as well as the inner mechanisms. Included are an ornate celestial timepiece that accurately predicts the trajectory of the sun, moon, and stars and a longcase clock by David Roentgen that shows the time in the ten most important cities of the day. These works, created by clockmakers, scientists, and artists in England, Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, have been selected for their artistic beauty and design excellence, as well as for their sophisticated and awe-inspiring mechanics. Built upon decades of expert research, this publication is a long-overdue survey of these stunning visual and technological marvels." -- Provided by the publisher. 2015 • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 681.11(4)

HMS Centurion, 1733-1769 : an historic biographical-travelogue of one of Britain's most famous warships and the capture of the Nuestra Senora De Covadonga treasure galleon /Shirley Fish. "When the Centurion and a squadron of six vessels and 1,959 men and boys set out from England in 1740, on a round-the-world expedition, they were unaware of the terrifying events that awaited them in the days ahead. The squadron, under the command of Commodore George Anson, had departed from England with every hope of a successful mission to harass and take prizes in the Spanish possessions of the Americas and in Asia. The journey proved more challenging than anticipated, and at times, it seemed nightmarish and beyond anything experienced by the crew. The ship survived two huge waves and a lightning strike. Then, there was the great loss of life amongst the crew who perished due to the devastating symptoms of scurvy. Despite these setbacks, there were moments of pure joy, especially when the Centurion captured the fabulously wealthy Manila-Acapulco Galleon in the Philippines, the Nuestra Senora de Covadonga. Throughout the Centurion's career as a royal naval warship in the eighteenth century, she played a role in the capture of Quebec during the French and Indian War and the invasion of Havana in the Seven Years War. She was also instrumental when dealing with the Barbary Corsairs of Algeria and Morocco. Amongst the famous men who sailed on this vessel were John Harrison, the inventor of the first maritime sea clock, and Joshua Reynolds, the celebrated portrait painter. The details of the journeys to the Americas, Asia, and Europe are described in this biographical-travelogue of the Centurion."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.82CENTURION

Sound of the waves : a WW2 memoir, how scientists worked to defeat the U-boat threat during the Battle of the Atlantic /E.A. Alexander. "When German U-boats threatened to starve Britain into submission by cutting off food supplies in WW2, sonar scientists and engineers worked against the clock to improve anti-submarine detection in order to defeat them, to guide the X-Craft that attacked the German battleship, KMS Tirpitz, and the craft used in the D-Day landings. There has long been - and continues to be - great interest in WW2 submarine warfare which will often focus on the craft, the men who commanded them and the equipment developed for them but the lives and endeavours of those who developed, perfected and adapted the sonar on which they depended has not been widely appreciated. Many of the personal and specific details mentioned within Sound of the Waves have never been divulged until now. Seen through the eyes of Eric, a bright young physical chemist, this memoir describes in intimate detail what life was like for the talented men and women working for the British Admiralty at Her Majesty's Anti-Submarine Experimental Establishment in Scotland and the Top Secret projects they were involved in. The scientific and technical advances achieved at the Establishment during the war years are explained in uncomplicated terms but Sound of the Waves also reveals that these scientists and engineers were not simply part of Churchill's 'army of boffins ' working in a vacuum but were ordinary people with families and interests outside of their fields of study. This very personal account of the life and research of a young scientist and his colleagues is therefore as much a social history of the war years as a history of underwater weapons in WW2. Flashbacks to Eric's childhood give a clue as to how a curious and creative mind can be nurtured and how a dyslexic child can excel in the sciences. Eric Alexander was born in South Africa in 1916. He came to England prior to the start of the Second World War. It was on gaining his doctorate at Oxford University in 1941 that he was invited to join the Admiralty as an Experimental Officer to improve anti-submarine detection devices. After the war he made his career with the Admiralty as a senior sonar scientist in Dorset, England. In 1966 he was seconded to the diplomatic service of the Foreign Office and appointed Scientific Councellor to the British Embassy in Moscow."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available.

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