Telling Time

How have humans kept track of time? What technologies have they developed to tell time, and how have they been influenced by religious and scientific cultures? In this episode, Dr. Sara Schechner, a historian of astronomy and an artist who has made sundials herself, speaks about the history of timekeeping, and how timekeeping technologies have shaped people’s sense of time. We also hear from Dr. Avner Wishnitzer about how some people’s sense of time changed with the introduction of modern institutions, creating new “temporal cultures.”

Audio credits: Special thanks to Tom Roush for use of his song, “My Grandfather’s Clock”; to the Ottoman History Podcast for use of their episode “Time and Temporal Culture in the Ottoman Empire”; and The Overseas Ensemble, a collaboration between composer Paed Conca and Sarigama, for use of their music

Image credit: thanks to the Center for Historical Scientific Instruments for this detail of an ivory diptych sundial, Joseph Ducher, Nuremberg, 1640-1644