

Stephen Hawking to unveil strange new way to tell the time - gscott
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/09/14/scihawking114.xml

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frazerb
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=&...](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=52.203852,0.117524&ie=UTF8&t=k&z=16&iwloc=addr)

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rflrob
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.

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huhtenberg
Here's how it works:

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/07/Grasshop...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/07/Grasshopper-
escapement-005.gif/250px-Grasshopper-escapement-005.gif)

So some people do in fact know it :)

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

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michael_dorfman
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.

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

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michael_dorfman
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.

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Tichy
She's the "woman of the time"?

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

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gaius
They like that at Corpus Christi.

