Mechanical Clocks in History

Ancient Period

• The oldest calendar ever discovered in the world was found in Scotland, dating back to around 10,000 years ago.
• The calendar system was found at Warren Field, Crathes, Aberdeenshire, and consisted of a 50-meter long row of twelve pits created by Stone Age Britons.
• The pits were used from around 8000 BC (the early Mesolithic period) to around 4000 BC (the early Neolithic period).

Middle Ages Technology

• The aeolipile, a steam-powered device, was considered one of the great examples of improving Middle Ages technology.
• A tidal mill is a special type of water mill driven by the rise and fall of tides, requiring a dam with a sluice to be created across a proper tidal inlet.
• The earliest excavated tidal mill was dated from 787 AD and was found in the Nendrum Monastery on an island in Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland.

Heavy Plough

• The heavy plough was first used in the fifth century and was a modification of the already existing mouldboard plough.
• The depth of cut was adjusted by lifting the runner in the furrow, and the weight of the plough was limited in practice.

The Mechanical Clock

• The mechanical clock was developed during the 13th century, with the first such device possibly invented in monasteries.
• The first mechanical clocks with proper references were large, weight-driven machines used to toll a bell to call all monks to prayers.
• The oldest mechanical clock situated in England, still working, is at Salisbury Cathedral and dates from 1386.

Ancient Inventions

• The Nimrud lens, a 3,000-year-old piece of rock crystal, was unearthed by Sir John Layard in 1850 at the Assyrian palace of Nimrud in modern-day Iraq.
• The ancient invention of the steam engine was attributed to the Hero of Alexandria, a 1st-century Greek mathematician and engineer.
• Heron Alexandrinus was considered the first inventor of the steam engine.

Information Revolutions

• Elin Withney-Smith divided information revolutions into six:
  • Agriculture
  • Writing
  • The fall of Rome
  • Printing Press
  • Trains, telegraph, telephones
  • Digital Revolution

Digital Revolution

• The Digital Revolution started with a single silicon chip in the 1960s that could process a lot of information in a short span of time.
• The creation of microchips changed information from the Stone Age to pocket form.
• Computers became smartphones, watches, and other portable devices.

Intellectual Revolution

• The Intellectual Revolution was derived from the Latin word "revolutionem," meaning turning point, and used often with celestial bodies.
• It was a period in Europe that traditional thinking changed into rational and logical thinking.
• The Intellectual Revolution was believed to be the start of Modern Science, with improvements in astronomy, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and physics.

Copernican Revolution

• The Copernican Revolution was pioneered by Nicholas Copernicus, who introduced the idea of a heliocentric universe.
• The revolution changed man's perception about the world, moving from a geocentric theory to an empirical view.
• Theories about the origin of the earth were changed from a theological view to an empirical one.

Darwinian Revolution

• The Darwinian Revolution followed the Copernican Revolution and started with Charles Darwin.
• The revolution introduced the idea of evolution by means of natural selection and canceled the divine theory of origin.
• The theory of the origin of species was introduced.

Freudian Revolution

• The Freudian Revolution was founded by Sigmund Freud and originated in the 1900s.
• The revolution started with psychoanalysis, a clinical method in psychopathology through a conversation between the patient and the psychoanalyst.
• The goal of psychoanalysis was to relieve the patient from repressed emotions and experiences.

Pre-Columbian Civilization

• The Maya civilization flourished from around 300 to 900 AD.
• The Maya conducted Cesarean sections, dental fillings, and performed surgeries.
• They used alchemy before chemistry and developed a complex writing system.

Middle East

• The Greeks influenced mathematics in the region.
• Islamic Sciences were used to synthesize ideas.
• Libraries were built to keep a multitude of manuscripts.

Africa

• Africa developed the first counting system.
• Egyptian manuscripts showed concepts of fractions, multiplications, and other mathematical concepts.
• The Egyptians discovered movements of the sun, constellations, and cycles of the moon.

Inventions

• Africa developed the first counting system.
• The Egyptians developed a year-long 365 and 1/4 days calendar.
• The Dogon culture knew about some celestial bodies.
• Metallurgy and tools, such as steam engines, metal chisels, saws, copper and iron tools, and weapons, were developed.
• Architecture and engineering, including the creation of obelisks, pyramids, and stone complexes, were developed.