Why Are There 60 Seconds in a Minute?
In short: The 60 seconds in a minute appear to descend from base-60 counting on Mesopotamian clay tablets, carried through Babylonian arithmetic and Greek astronomy by routes historians still debate, and the pattern survives even though the second is now defined by cesium atoms.
A 1:27 short film in the series “From Fingers to Qubits”, narrated by intellect_voice_01.
Sources used in this film: MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews, “Babylonian numerals”; Springer Nature (Archive for History of Exact Sciences, open-access article by Jöran Friberg, 2019), “Three thousand years of sexagesimal numbers in Mesopotamian mathematical texts”; MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews, “Babylonian mathematics - MacTutor History of Mathematics”; Science Museum (Science Museum Group), “Telling the time with the Sun | Science Museum”; Florida State University (D. Duke, Ancient Astronomy lecture notes), “Almagest, Book I”; Isis (journal of the History of Science Society), 1991 article by Alexander Jones, hosted on the NYU Faculty Digital Archive, “The Adaptation of Babylonian Methods in Greek Numerical Astronomy”; National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce; paper by Michael Lombardi, Journal of Research of NIST, Volume 122, 2017, “A Historical Review of U. S. Contributions to the Atomic Definition of the SI Second”.
Sources used in this film
- MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews — Babylonian numerals · View →
- Springer Nature (Archive for History of Exact Sciences, open-access article by Jöran Friberg, 2019) — Three thousand years of sexagesimal numbers in Mesopotamian mathematical texts · View →
- MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews — Babylonian mathematics - MacTutor History of Mathematics · View →
- Science Museum (Science Museum Group) — Telling the time with the Sun | Science Museum · View →
- Florida State University (D. Duke, Ancient Astronomy lecture notes) — Almagest, Book I · View →
- Isis (journal of the History of Science Society), 1991 article by Alexander Jones, hosted on the NYU Faculty Digital Archive — The Adaptation of Babylonian Methods in Greek Numerical Astronomy · View →
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce; paper by Michael Lombardi, Journal of Research of NIST, Volume 122, 2017 — A Historical Review of U. S. Contributions to the Atomic Definition of the SI Second · View →
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews: Babylonian numerals
- Also: Springer Nature (Archive for History of Exact Sciences), article by Jöran Friberg, 2019: Three thousand years of sexagesimal numbers in Mesopotamian mathematical texts
- Also: MacTutor History of Mathematics, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews: Babylonian mathematics
- Also: Science Museum (Science Museum Group): Telling the time with the Sun | Science Museum
- Also: Florida State University (D. Duke, Ancient Astronomy lecture notes): Almagest, Book I
- Also: Isis (journal of the History of Science Society), 1991 article by Alexander Jones, hosted on the NYU Faculty Digital Arc: The Adaptation of Babylonian Methods in Greek Numerical Astronomy
- Also: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce; paper by Michael Lombardi, Journal o: A Historical Review of U. S. Contributions to the Atomic Definition of the SI Second
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