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Books > Science & Mathematics > Astronomy, space & time > Time (chronology) > General
Space and time on earth are regulated by the prime meridian, 0 Degrees, which is, by convention, based at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. But the meridian's location in southeast London is not a simple legacy of Britain's imperial past. Before the nineteenth century, more than twenty-five different prime meridians were in use around the world, including Paris, Beijing, Greenwich, Washington, and the location traditional in Europe since Ptolemy, the Canary Islands. Charles Withers explains how the choice of Greenwich to mark 0 Degrees longitude solved complex problems of global measurement that had engaged geographers, astronomers, and mariners since ancient times. Withers guides readers through the navigation and astronomy associated with diverse meridians and explains the problems that these cartographic lines both solved and created. He shows that as science and commerce became more global and as railway and telegraph networks tied the world closer together, the multiplicity of prime meridians led to ever greater confusion in the coordination of time and the geographical division of space. After a series of international scientific meetings, notably the 1884 International Meridian Conference in Washington, DC, Greenwich emerged as the most pragmatic choice for a global prime meridian, though not unanimously or without acrimony. Even after 1884, other prime meridians remained in use for decades. As Zero Degrees shows, geographies of the prime meridian are a testament to the power of maps, the challenges of accurate measurement on a global scale, and the role of scientific authority in creating the modern world.
Interest in the concept of time has a long history and has been a topic of study for a wide range of investigators. No change can take place without specification of time. While philosophers and physicists have been intrigued by the concept of subjective perception of time and its relationship to real time, natural scientists have been concerned mainly with investigating time as a factor in understanding the behaviour of animals from the migratory habits of birds to the periodical breeding cycles. The immense bulk of temporal perception studies, the variety of approaches, methods of measurement and even terminology has led to a difficulty in reaching a global interpretation of the results. This book aims to give an integrative approach of time sense and to focus the analysis on temporal factors in the processing of movement, trying to link temporal perception studies in the final common pathway, that is motion. To give some clues of human brain integrative processes at higher levels. And, finally, to clarify the neurophysiological substrate of these operations.
The theory of relativity convinced many philosophers that space and time are fundamentally alike, and that they are mere aspects of a more fundamental space-time. In The Nature of Time, Ulrich Meyer argues against this consensus view. Instead of a 'spatial' account of time that treats instants like positions in space, he presents the first comprehensive defense of a 'modal' account that emphasizes the similarities between times and the possible worlds in modal logic. Modal accounts of time are naturally cast in terms of a tense logic that accounts for temporal distinctions in terms of primitive tense operators. Tense logic was originally developed to provide a linguistic theory of verb tense in natural languages, but here Meyer proposes that it can be treated as a metaphysical theory of the nature of time. Contrary to popular belief, such modal accounts of time do not commit us to the view that there is something metaphysically special about the present moment, and they are easily reconciled with the theory of relativity.
Collins Big Cat supports every primary child on their reading journey from phonics to fluency. Top authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that children love to read. Book banded for guided and independent reading, there are reading notes in the back, comprehensive teaching and assessment support and ebooks available. When Shinoy downloads the Chaos Crew app on his phone, a glitch in the system gives him the power to summon his TV heroes into his world. With the team on board, Shinoy can figure out what dastardly plans S.N.A.I.R. has come up with, and save the day. Location: Same place, same time Operative: Everyone! Mission: Release Shinoy from reliving the same scene again and again in an endless loop. This exciting title is part of the Shinoy and the Chaos Crew series by Chris Callaghan. White/Band 10 books have more complex sentences and figurative language. Ideas for reading in the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities.
From one of our foremost thinkers and public intellectuals, a radical new view of the nature of time and the cosmos What is time?This deceptively simple question is the single most important problem facing science as we probe more deeply into the fundamentals of the universe. All of the mysteries physicists and cosmologists face--from the Big Bang to the future of the universe, from the puzzles of quantum physics to the unification of forces and particles--come down to the nature of time.The fact that time is real may seem obvious. You experience it passing every day when you watch clocks tick, bread toast, and children grow. But most physicists, from Newton to Einstein to today's quantum theorists, have seen things differently. The scientific case for time being an illusion is formidable. That is why the consequences of adopting the view that time is real are revolutionary.Lee Smolin, author of the controversial bestseller The Trouble with Physics, argues that a limited notion of time is holding physics back. It's time for a major revolution in scientific thought. The reality of time could be the key to the next big breakthrough in theoretical physics.What if the laws of physics themselves were not timeless? What if they could evolve? Time Reborn offers a radical new approach to cosmology that embraces the reality of time and opens up a whole new universe of possibilities. There are few ideas that, like our notion of time, shape our thinking about literally everything, with huge implications for physics and beyond--from climate change to the economic crisis. Smolin explains in lively and lucid prose how the true nature of time impacts our world.
This is the first comprehensive bibliography of temporal scholarship-research on the subject of time and the phenomenon of time itself. As the author notes in his introduction, the nature of research insights on the subject of time is difficult to comprehend within the confines of any specific discipline since relevant materials are scattered throughout the literature in numerous scholarly fields. By bringing together the most significant published works in a wide variety of disciplines, this unique compendium enables scholars and researchers to look beyond their own particular area of expertise when selecting appropriate resource materials. Throughout, the focus is on the time dimension itself as a problematic or researchable phenomenon rather than on narrow topics such as time management, time series analysis, or forecasting. Organized by discipline, the work begins with an initial chapter that lists general works on the time dimension. Nineteen chapters then list works in particular disciplines ranging from anthropology and culture to biology, economics, futures studies, history, linguistics, management studies, psychology, and more. The final chapter lists miscellaneous entries which could not be categorized into any of the specific disciplinary headings. Within each chapter, entries are arranged alphabetically by author or editor. Nearly all sources are from scholarly journals and books.
"Time" is the most common noun in the English language yet philosophers and scientists don't agree about what time actually is or how to define it. Perhaps this is because the brain tells, represents and perceives time in multiple ways. Dean Buonomano investigates the relationship between the brain and time, looking at what time is, why it seems to speed up or slow down and whether our sense that time flows is an illusion. Buonomano presents his theory of how the brain tells time, and illuminates such concepts as free will, consciousness, space-time and relativity from the perspective of a neuroscientist. Drawing on physics, evolutionary biology and philosophy, he reveals that the brain's ultimate purpose may be to predict the future-and thus that your brain is a time machine.
Is time, even locally, like the real line? Multiple structures of time, implicit in physics, create a consistency problem. A tilt in the arrow of time is suggested as the most conservative hypothesis which provides approximate consistency within physics and with topology of mundane time. Mathematically, the assumed constancy of the velocity of light (needed to measure time) implies functional differential equations of motion, that have both retarded and advanced deviating arguments with the hypothesis of a tilt. The novel features of such equations lead to a nontrivial structure of time and quantum-mechanical behaviour. The entire argument is embedded in a pedagogical exposition which amplifies, corrects, and questions the conventionally accepted approach. The exposition includes historical details and explains, for instance, why the entropy law is inadequate for time asymmetry, and why notions such as time asymmetry (hence causality) may be conceptually inadequate. The first three parts of the book are especially suited as supplementary reading material for undergraduate and graduate students and teachers of physics. The new ideas are addressed to researchers in physics and philosophy of science concerned with relativity and the interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Winner of the Runciman Award Winner of the Charles J. Goodwin Award "Tells the story of how the Seleucid Empire revolutionized chronology by picking a Year One and counting from there, rather than starting a new count, as other states did, each time a new monarch was crowned...Fascinating." -Harper's In the aftermath of Alexander the Great's conquests, his successors, the Seleucid kings, ruled a vast territory stretching from Central Asia and Anatolia to the Persian Gulf. In 305 BCE, in a radical move to impose unity and regulate behavior, Seleucus I introduced a linear conception of time. Time would no longer restart with each new monarch. Instead, progressively numbered years-continuous and irreversible-became the de facto measure of historical duration. This new temporality, propagated throughout the empire and identical to the system we use today, changed how people did business, recorded events, and oriented themselves to the larger world. Some rebellious subjects, eager to resurrect their pre-Hellenic past, rejected this new approach and created apocalyptic time frames, predicting the total end of history. In this magisterial work, Paul Kosmin shows how the Seleucid Empire's invention of a new kind of time-and the rebellions against this worldview-had far reaching political and religious consequences, transforming the way we organize our thoughts about the past, present, and future. "Without Paul Kosmin's meticulous investigation of what Seleucus achieved in creating his calendar without end we would never have been able to comprehend the traces of it that appear in late antiquity...A magisterial contribution to this hitherto obscure but clearly important restructuring of time in the ancient Mediterranean world." -G. W. Bowersock, New York Review of Books "With erudition, theoretical sophistication, and meticulous discussion of the sources, Paul Kosmin sheds new light on the meaning of time, memory, and identity in a multicultural setting." -Angelos Chaniotis, author of Age of Conquests
McTaggart's argument for the unreality of time, first published in 1908, set the agenda for 20th-century philosophy of time. Yet there is very little agreement on what it actually says-nobody agrees with the conclusion, but still everybody finds something important in it. This book presents the first critical overview of the last century of debate on what is popularly called "McTaggart's Paradox". Scholars have long assumed that McTaggart's argument stands alone and does not rely on any contentious ontological principles. The author demonstrates that these assumptions are incorrect-McTaggart himself explicitly claimed his argument to be dependent on the ontological principles that form the basis of his idealist metaphysics. The result is that scholars have proceeded to understand the argument on the basis of their own metaphysical assumptions, duly arriving at very different interpretations. This book offers an alternative reading of McTaggart's argument, and at the same time explains why other commentators arrive at their mutually incompatible interpretations. It will be of interest to students and scholars with an interest in the philosophy of time and other areas of contemporary metaphysics.
In this book, fifteen authors from a wide spectrum of disciplines
(ranging from the natural sciences to the arts) offer assessments
of the way time enters their work, the definition and uses of time
that have proved most productive or problematic, and the lessons
their subjects can offer for our understanding of time beyond the
classroom and laboratory walls. The authors have tried, without
sacrificing analytical rigour, to make their contribution
accessible to a cross-disciplinary readership.
We are directed to "mind the time" on occasions when diligence to the clock is important. However, to deliberately invoke "mind your time" is to remember how quickly time, and the clock which serves as its agent, can so quickly recede into the mundane and taken for granted parts of our lives. The experience of time in families can both permeate all activities but nevertheless be hidden. The papers in this volume, representing a range of disciplines (history, sociology, psychology, family therapy, leisure studies, family science) intentionally foreground the way that time shapes everyday family worlds. Each chapter offers different insights into the way that we conceptualize time including analyses of pace, rhythm, negotiation, politics, timetables, schedules, social interaction and support. The meaning of time is illustrated through analyses of a variety of family issues including father involvement, infertility, work and family, mothering and care work, housework, family time, single parent families, family life education and gender.
For thousands of years, people of all cultures have made and used clocks, from the city sundials of ancient Rome to the medieval water clocks of imperial China, hourglasses fomenting revolution in the Middle Ages, the Stock Exchange clock of Amsterdam in 1611, Enlightenment observatories in India, and the high-precision clocks circling the Earth on a fleet of GPS satellites that have been launched since 1978. Clocks have helped us navigate the world and build empires, and have even taken us to the brink of destruction. Elites have used them to wield power, make money, govern citizens, and control lives-and sometimes the people have used them to fight back. Through the stories of twelve clocks, About Time brings pivotal moments from the past vividly to life. Historian and lifelong clock enthusiast David Rooney takes us from the unveiling of al-Jazari's castle clock in 1206, in present-day Turkey; to the Cape of Good Hope observatory at the southern tip of Africa, where nineteenth-century British government astronomers moved the gears of empire with a time ball and a gun; to the burial of a plutonium clock now sealed beneath a public park in Osaka, where it will keep time for 5,000 years. Rooney shows, through these artifacts, how time has been imagined, politicized, and weaponized over the centuries-and how it might bring peace. Ultimately, he writes, the technical history of horology is only the start of the story. A history of clocks is a history of civilization.
How have figures of speech configured new concepts of time, space, and mind throughout history? Brian J. McVeigh answers this question in A Psychohistory of Metaphors: Envisioning Time, Space, and Self through the Centuries by exploring "meta-framing:" our ever-increasing capability to "step back" from the environment, search out its familiar features to explain the unfamiliar, and generate "as if" forms of knowledge and metaphors of location and vision. This book demonstrates how analogizing and abstracting have altered spatio-visual perceptions, expanding our introspective capabilities and allowing us to adapt to changing social circumstances.
George Synkellos, a monk of Constantinople who once held a position of authority under the patriarch Tarasios, composed (in Greek) a chronicle of universal history in the early ninth century. Beginning with the creation of the universe, the chronicle preserves a rich collection of ancient sources, many of them otherwise unknown. The English translation provided here, together with introduction and notes, promises to make this influential and wide-ranging history more accessible.
McTaggart's argument for the unreality of time, first published in 1908, set the agenda for 20th-century philosophy of time. Yet there is very little agreement on what it actually says-nobody agrees with the conclusion, but still everybody finds something important in it. This book presents the first critical overview of the last century of debate on what is popularly called "McTaggart's Paradox". Scholars have long assumed that McTaggart's argument stands alone and does not rely on any contentious ontological principles. The author demonstrates that these assumptions are incorrect-McTaggart himself explicitly claimed his argument to be dependent on the ontological principles that form the basis of his idealist metaphysics. The result is that scholars have proceeded to understand the argument on the basis of their own metaphysical assumptions, duly arriving at very different interpretations. This book offers an alternative reading of McTaggart's argument, and at the same time explains why other commentators arrive at their mutually incompatible interpretations. It will be of interest to students and scholars with an interest in the philosophy of time and other areas of contemporary metaphysics.
'This is a thought-provoking book that would be of interest to anyone wanting to ponder the concept of time, and to develop more critical thinking skills that may be useful when reading popular science books or articles.'IEEE Electrical Insulation MagazineThe aim of this book is to explain in simple language what we know about time and about the history of time. It is shown that the briefest (as well as the lengthiest) history of time can be described in one or two pages.The second purpose of the book is to show that neither entropy, nor the Second Law of Thermodynamics has anything to do with time. The third purpose is to educate the lay reader how to read popular science books, critically. Towards this goal, detailed reviews of four books on time are presented.There are many popular science books on Time, on the beginning of Time and the end of Time. This book is unique in the following two senses:
How have figures of speech configured new concepts of time, space, and mind throughout history? Brian J. McVeigh answers this question in A Psychohistory of Metaphors: Envisioning Time, Space, and Self through the Centuries by exploring "meta-framing:" our ever-increasing capability to "step back" from the environment, search out its familiar features to explain the unfamiliar, and generate "as if" forms of knowledge and metaphors of location and vision. This book demonstrates how analogizing and abstracting have altered spatio-visual perceptions, expanding our introspective capabilities and allowing us to adapt to changing social circumstances.
Collins Big Cat supports every primary child on their reading journey from phonics to fluency. Top authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that children love to read. Book banded for guided and independent reading, there are reading notes in the back, comprehensive teaching and assessment support and ebooks available. When Shinoy downloads the Chaos Crew app on his phone, a glitch in the system gives him the power to summon his TV heroes into his world. With the team on board, Shinoy can figure out what dastardly plans S.N.A.I.R. has come up with, and save the day. Location: Somewhere very high up Operative: Mustang Harry Mission: Stop the clock and start time. Don't look down! This exciting title is part of the Shinoy and the Chaos Crew series by Chris Callaghan. White/Band 10 books have more complex sentences and figurative language. Ideas for reading in the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities.
MAYAN STUDIES / NEW AGE"Reading this book is a powerful and electrifying experience. Each page offers penetrating insights that unravel the deepest mysteries of human history and the evolution of global consciousness." Michael E. Salla, Ph.D., Center for Global Peace The prophetic Mayan calendar is not keyed to the movement of planetary bodies. Instead, it functions as a metaphysical map of the evolution of consciousness and records how spiritual time flows, providing a new science of time. The calendar is associated with nine creation cycles, each of which represents one of nine levels of consciousness or Underworlds on the Mayan cosmic pyramid. Using empirical research, Carl Johan Calleman shows how this pyramidal structure of the development of consciousness can explain matters as disparate as the common origin of world religions and the modern complaint that time seems to be moving faster. Readers will learn that time is, in fact, speeding up as we transition from the materialistic Planetary Underworld that governs us today to a new and higher frequency of consciousness--the Galactic Underworld--in preparation for the final Universal level of conscious enlightenment. The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness reveals the Mayan calendar as a spiritual device that enables a greater understanding of the nature of conscious evolution throughout human history--and how it provides the concrete steps we can take to align ourselves with this growth toward enlightenment. CARL JOHAN CALLEMAN holds a Ph.D. in physical biology and has served as an expert on cancer for the World Health Organization. He began his studies on the Mayan calendar in 1979 and now lectures throughoutthe world. He is also author of Solving the Greatest Mystery of Our Time: The Mayan Calendar. He lives in Sweden.
Time and Age explores how time is defined by man. It follows the development of our means for measuring time from early methods using the flow of water or the steady burning of candles through to the atomic clock that records time with incredible precision.The classical idea of time as something that progresses at a uniform rate and as something that is the same to all observers was overturned by Einstein's Theory of Relativity. The conclusions coming from this theory are described, including the anti-intuitive twin paradox where one twin, returning from a journey to a distant star, is younger than his twin brother.Also covered is how age can be determined in a wide range of situations, such as how we work out the age of the Universe to how we calculate the age of artefacts that are just a few centuries old.
Time and Age explores how time is defined by man. It follows the development of our means for measuring time from early methods using the flow of water or the steady burning of candles through to the atomic clock that records time with incredible precision.The classical idea of time as something that progresses at a uniform rate and as something that is the same to all observers was overturned by Einstein's Theory of Relativity. The conclusions coming from this theory are described, including the anti-intuitive twin paradox where one twin, returning from a journey to a distant star, is younger than his twin brother.Also covered is how age can be determined in a wide range of situations, such as how we work out the age of the Universe to how we calculate the age of artefacts that are just a few centuries old. |
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