Beginnings
Thornwell Jacobs (1877–1956), referred to as "the father of the modern time capsule," claims to be the first in modern times to conceive the idea of consciously preserving manmade objects for posterity by placing them in a sealed repository. Jacobs' inspiration for the project was sparked by the Egyptian pyramid and tomb openings in the 1920s. He was struck by the scarcity of historical information available from these ancient civilizations and imagined having a "running story" of the customs of human life from beginning to the 1930s modern culture.
Although the claim that 4241 BC (July 19) is the "earliest fixed date" has been discredited since Jacobs, he noted that 6,177 years had passed between when the Egyptian calendar was established in 4241 BC and the present year (AD 1936). This figure served as the rationale for setting the opening of the crypt for 8113, as it was 6,177 years away.
Jacobs’ Crypt of Civilization intrigued America and was duplicated by many others. In the mid 1930s George Edward Pendray, a public relations executive for the Westinghouse Electric Company, was given an assignment to come up with a promotional event for the 1939 New York World's Fair. Pendray, also an amateur rocketeer, suggested burying a "time capsule," a sealed rocket-shaped vessel made of a metal alloy called cupaloy. The Westinghouse time capsule was a 7-foot-long (2.1 m) rocket-shaped tube with a metal exterior that encapsulated articles in a plexiglass inner tube. Pendray’s project was originally named a "time bomb" but the name was later changed to time capsule. Pendray’s time capsule is scheduled to be opened in 5,000 years and Jacobs' Crypt of Civilization will be opened in just over 6,000 years.
Read more about this topic: Crypt Of Civilization
Famous quotes containing the word beginnings:
“The beginnings of altruism can be seen in children as early as the age of two. How then can we be so concerned that they count by the age of three, read by four, and walk with their hands across the overhead parallel bars by five, and not be concerned that they act with kindness to others?”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
“The frantic search of five-year-olds for friends can thus be seen to forecast the beginnings of a basic shift in the parent-child relationship, a shift which will occur gradually over many long years, and in which a child needs not only the support of child allies engaged in the same struggle but also the understanding of his parents.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“Let us, then, take our compass; we are something, and we are not everything. The nature of our existence hides from us the knowledge of first beginnings which are born of the nothing; and the littleness of our being conceals from us the sight of the infinite. Our intellect holds the same position in the world of thought as our body occupies in the expanse of nature.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)