Stephen Hawking to unveil strange new way to tell the time | Hacker News Reader

Stephen Hawking to unveil strange new way to tell the time

telegraph.co.uk

11 pointsgscott11 comments

The clock really is quite garish, but you have to see it in context really. It's going to be be sited on the wall of the old bank opposite Kings College Chapel - anything quiet and unassuming in such an austere location would be lost. Garish is good.

I was lucky enough to get a preview of the clock in operation about a month ago - guided by the clockmaker himself. Two things stand out in particular. First, the sound. The clock has a really satisfying mechanical whirr and clunk. A satisfaction that you just don't get by building software! Second, the LEDs. Bright blue LEDs mark out the hours, minutes, seconds. and they do so with sweeping movements across the clock face. These sweeping LEDs are exactly that - LEDs that sweep. It's not an array of LEDs that get turned on-and-off around the face, it's just some LEDs on a bar that is swung round mechanically.

Come and see it next time you're in Cambridge. It's mounted behind bullet-proof glass on the wall of the bank. There's even a special audio system so that you can hear the 'tick'!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&...

The article says it uses less power than three 60-watt bulbs... why not just say it uses about 150 watts?

Also, when the designer says, "No one knows how a grasshopper escapement works", does he mean "most people don't know how it works", or does he mean that the very principle of its operation is beyond modern science? Probably the former, but it's unclear phrasing.

Here's how it works:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/07/Grasshop...

So some people do in fact know it :)

You are correct in that what the man meant was "No-one you would normally meet knows how this escapement works" which is (partly) why this clock implements key components in the mechanism if full public view so that the world at large can see how it works.

Why is Hawking unveiling this? Seems like he had nothing to do with it.

Because it's unlikely that articles like this one would have been written without the "hook" of Hawking's name. He's allowing a bit of his fame to be reflected onto the project, and I suppose that's a good thing for all involved.

if thats the reason they could get better coverage inviting Paris Hilton to do the showing.

And I imagine that if they could find a decent way to tie her to the project, they would.

Hawking was an easy choice, writing an iconic book with "Time" in the title. A tie to Paris Hilton would take a bit more creativity.

She's the "woman of the time"?

I don't know if he could have possibly made it more garish (neon blue back lighting.... come on!) but the concept is fascinating.

They like that at Corpus Christi.

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