The place where TIME began | A history of GMT

Long before smartphones and digital clocks, time was a local affair, creating chaos, confusion and even danger. bit.ly/subhistoryextrayoutube

On location at Royal Observatory, Greenwich in southeast London, HistoryExtra's Elinor Evans unpacks how astronomers, mathematicians, and global powers collaborated to create Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Joined by Louise Devoy, Senior Curator of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, we investigate the milestone innovations in this story, including the story of the Observatory Time Ball, the Shepherd Motor Clock, and George Biddell Airy's meridian Prime Meridian.

From solving longitude at sea to defining timezones for the entire planet, this is the story of how we learned to master time.

Find out more about the history of time, space navigation at https://www.historyextra.com/topic/sc...
Plan a visit to the Royal Observatory at https://www.rmg.co.uk

(Drone footage © National Maritime Museum, London)

#historyextra #history #gmt

01:03 Why was there a need to find a mean time?
03:07 John Flamsteed and the quest for longitude
05:17 The story of the Time Ball
07:00 The Prime Meridian
10:01 How to set a global standard
11:01 Why was GMT replaced in 1972?

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