A brief history of time(keeping)

October 21, 2014

Presented by Dr. Len Berggren, Professor Emeritus, Mathematics, SFU

Tuesday October 21, 2014, 114 Halpern Centre, 11:30 am

 The problem of recording the passage of time in a way relevant to a society’s needs has challenged the best efforts of very clever individuals. Such efforts have taken humankind from a vertical pole casting shadows on the ground to the atomic clock. And timekeeping devices have reflected both the scientific and technical achievements of societies and their need for ever more accurate timekeepers. In this talk we shall explore this history and show some of the truly marvellous devices that the quest for more accurate timekeeping has produced.

This is the second in the Fall 2014 SFURA Speakers Program. Presentations are free and open to all members of SFU and the public.  No reservations are required.  They are held at 11:30 am on Tuesdays with a talk of approximately 50 minutes, plus a short question period.

Members of the audience are invited to join the speaker and executive board for lunch at the Diamond Alumni Centre following the talk.