A sundial measures local time based on the Sun’s position. Until the 1840s, all governments and commercial establishments used sundials to tell time. Then the railways developed and on moving trains, it was difficult to use sundials to tell time. People started using portable mechanical clocks and pocket watches to tell time.
From a scientific perspective, many people consider the sundial to be the first truly scientific instrument, designed based on pure scientific principles and sound theories. Sundials make it possible to visualize all three dimensions of our world along with the fourth dimension, which is time.
The Origins and Development Of Sundials
You can research the origins of the sundial all the way back to 1500 B.C, in places such as Greece, Rome, central Europe and Egypt. Sundials were used to determine time, even after the first conventional clock was developed in the 14th century. In truth, people relied on their sundials so much that they would use sundial time to check and adjust the time in their mechanical clocks, a practice that continued until mechanical clocks started using more accurate time telling machinery.
The earliest sundials as found in archaeological records are the shadow clocks from around 1500 BC and the obelisks from 3500 BC. The ancient Egyptian and Babylonian astronomers apparently used these dials to tell time. The length of shadows cast by the sun during different hours of the day led our ancestors to divide the day into three segments: morning, noon and evening. However, the exact time when all this started is hardly to pinpoint, as there are no accurate records to show when humans first started understanding the concept of time.
In China, sundials were present since ancient times, perhaps from 104BCE, though there are no clear records of which kinds of sundials were in use. However, there is sufficient archeological evidence and written records of the contributions the ancient Greeks made to sundial principles and forms. The Greeks, being well versed with geometry principles were well positioned to develop the science of sundials, especially the conic sections traced by a sundial nodus.
The Sundial Today
The sundial, once so prevalent in people’s lawns, churches and historical buildings, is only a forgotten timepiece and a novelty these days. Well-designed and executed sundials can tell the time accurately, while being decorative at the same time. Sundials don’t offer you the convenience that wristwatches do; they’re rather a quaint salute to the past, and an acknowledgement of the origin of the art of timekeeping. There are different kinds of sundials and various instructions are available for making these types. However, most of these designs are meant for Europe and the northern hemisphere. It is not always easy to adjust these sundial designs to suit southern hemisphere areas owing to the complex mathematical formulas that are involved.
In Europe, since the middle ages, sundials have been used to tell time and as decorative, useful accents on walls and gardens. A beautiful sundial was always the talking point of a wealthy man’s lawn, while being a real day-to-day necessity. It was common in those days to find several accurate sundials in different places in a large mansion, such as external walls, lawns, gardens and so on.
Sundials are very popular even today as examples of pure science. Many active sundial societies, clubs and sundial parks still exist in countries such as Germany, Netherlands, and Northern America. You’ll find sundials in several shapes and sizes to fit every person’s need. There are tiny pocket dials, large meter high dials, and very decorate dials in parks that are surrounded by flowering plants to give the sundial the shape of a large clock. You’ll find sundials in observatories as well. Now that we don’t need sundials to tell time anymore, they’re used mostly as decorative aspects in gardens, and art forms and sculptures.
