The Clock of the Long Now, also called the 10,000-year clock, is a proposed mechanical clock designed to keep time for 10,000 years. The project to build it is part of the Long Now Foundation.
The project was conceived by Danny Hillis in 1986 and the first prototype of the clock began working on December 31, 1999, just in time to display the transition to the year 2000. At midnight on New Year's Eve, the date indicator changed from 01999 to 02000, and the chime struck twice. That prototype, approximately two metres tall, is currently on display at the Science Museum in London.
As of December 2007, two more recent prototypes are on display at The Long Now Museum & Store at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.
The first full-scale clock's manufacture and site construction is being funded by Jeff Bezos, who has donated $42 million, and is located on his Texas land.
Read more about Clock Of The Long Now: Purpose, Design, Inspiration and Support
Famous quotes containing the words clock and/or long:
“The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,
The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned.
O I’ll leap up to my God: who pulls me down?
See, see, where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament.
One drop would save my soul, half a drop, ah my Christ.”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
“He had read much, if one considers his long life; but his contemplation was much more than his reading. He was wont to say that if he had read as much as other men he should have known no more than other men.”
—John Aubrey (1626–1697)