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:
“What brought them there so far from their home,
Cuchulain that fought night long with the foam,
What says the Clock in the Great Clock Tower?
Niamh that rode on it; lad and lass
That sat so still and played at the chess?
What but heroic wantonness?”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Great talents, by the rust of long disuse,
Grow lethargic and shrink from what they were.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)