Famous for a Second
The Book |
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Help required |
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Progress so far |
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Who
needs another dull book on Time – isn’t the Millennium yesterday’s news? Partly
true. But its purpose is to tell a
story of human achievement; the science can be found elsewhere. This is the inside track about a
technology where Britain has led the world. I
would like to tell my father-in-law’s story because he was a key contributor
to the golden age of the NPL just after the War. Around that time, there was international competition (a race
to build the first atomic clock had been underway for nearly six years),
funding - and resources - were almost non-existent and the Director’s
attention was focussed not on building clocks but on building a computer. How
Essen solved the technical problems in building his clock ahead of the
Americans was soon overshadowed by the more difficult task of getting the
whole world to adopt atomic time.
During the period of the Cold War, the science, politics and vested
interests over who controls time are
all stirred together in a story that brought American and Russian scientists
face to face in a confrontation over how time itself should be defined. John
Harrison stood virtually alone as the only person in the 18C who was
seriously pursuing a time-keeper solution to the longitude problem. Two centuries later, Essen experienced
similar frustrations in getting his own ideas accepted. |
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There are four ways in which you can help this project: Ø
You already have… just by visiting this web site is an indication of
the level of interest in the history of science and the story of time
measurement over the last 70 years. Ø
Have you ever known Louis Essen or been involved in working on time
standards, atomic clocks or relativity ? If so, I would like to hear from
you. Ø
This book has not been written yet –
it needs a potential readership.
Let me know if this is the sort of book you may like to read. Ø
I have no publisher formally committed to support the project. If you know of one, or a literary agent or
someone in publishing who may be interested then why not bring Famous for a Second to their attention? |
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The year 2005 will mark the 50th Anniversary of the construction of the first operational atomic clock in the world. I hope to complete this book in my spare time (I work full time!) to celebrate that event. I have been collecting material now for the last 12 months and have contacted over 100 people so far. I’ve had tremendous support and help from many sources including: Ø
Former members of the Time Team at the NPL Ø
Other NPL staff and former members of Electricity Division. Ø
Royal Greenwich Observatory ex-staff of Time Department Ø
Post Office ex-staff of Dollis Hill Ø
Keele University Ø
US National Bureau of
Standards (now NIST) Ø
Smithsonian Institution Ø
Two Nobel laureates Ø
National Research Laboratory of Metrology (Japan) Ø
Neuchâtel Observatory, Switzerland (ex Director) Ø
State Time Service (former) USSR Ø
Commercial organisations in US Ø
And many other individuals….. |
Send me your feedback
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Mail to: Ray Essen |
Thank
you for your interest in this project.
