Encyclopedia of popular science knowledge: "Time Knowledge"

Chapter 16 The Best in the World
biggest sun clock

Do you know which solar clock is the largest in the world?It is the Augustus Sun Clock.This clock is well-known in ancient Roman artworks. It consists of a large flat ground and a Chinese watch standing in the center of the flat ground.The flat ground is the clock face, engraved with the words indicating the time; the Huabiao is the pointer, more than 20 meters high, and a small round column with a root tip on the top plays the role of the pointer tip.Different projections of Huabiao on the horizon represent different hours (the projection is 9.5 meters long at the summer solstice and 65 meters long at the winter solstice).The clock is engraved with a Julian calendar and many very meaningful proverbs.

According to reports, in 9 BC, Augustus, the adopted son of the Roman Emperor Caesar, ordered the construction. At that time, the Altar of Peace and the Mausoleum of Augustus were built on both sides of it.These three works of art symbolize the sacred and inviolable majesty of the emperor.

What is the fate of this sun clock after it is built?Unfortunately, a flood of the Tipa River destroyed the entire clock, and the ornate watch was tilted to one side.Afterwards, the wind and rain gradually eroded the inscription on the clock dial.Although the later King Domitian sent people to repair it, the Chinese watch eventually collapsed and the entire clock face was buried in the mud. In 1748, the granite column was rediscovered.As for the clock face, archaeologists and astronomers of all dynasties have spared no effort to find this "stunning thing".A few years ago, an archaeological team led by Edmund Buchner, director of the German Institute of Archeology in Berlin, found it under a bar in the heart of Rome, 200 meters away from where the sun clock was.

longest living conjoined twins
On May 1811, 5, a pair of conjoined twins were born at the home of Di Ai, a Chinese fisherman in Mae Klong Village, about 11 kilometers west of Bangkok, Thailand.Because of the tight connection, the babies were born face-to-face and close together.Their mother, Nock (who is also three-quarters Chinese), has cleverly stretched the ligaments that bind them together, but they still have to live face to face.When news of the birth of conjoined twins reached the royal family, the group thought it was an ominous omen, and the king ordered the execution of the "strange baby" to avert disaster.However, this sentence was just a whim and was not actually implemented. The twins grew up slowly. The common ligament stretched from 95 cm to 10 cm, and the two could almost walk together side by side.The elder brother is called Chang, who is shorter than the younger brother Ying, and sits on the left.The younger brother has a milder personality and always gives way to disagreements. In this way, they seldom discuss where to go, what to do, what to eat, and when to go.

When they were about to turn 1829 on March 3, 31, an American businessman made them leave Thailand for Boston, USA for the purpose of profit.In the second week after arriving, the businessman rented a big tent that could accommodate thousands of people, and let them "perform", charging 18 cents per ticket, while Chang Heying only received 50 dollars a month, and only two years later. For $10, the merchant enjoys most of the income.Chang Heying traveled all over the country with the businessman and performed for 50 years.By January 10, 1839, they were naturalized in the United States, adding the foreign surname Bank to their names for formality.They then settled in a county seat in North Carolina and married Sarah and Adelaide, sisters of the American Yate family, in April 1.Chang and Adelaide had three sons and seven daughters, and Ying and Sarah had six sons and five daughters.

On January 1874, 1, Chang's disease affected Ying. Chang died first, and Ying died within three hours. They were 17 years old.

In the vast world, there is nothing unique. On March 1980, 3, my country's "People's Daily" reported that there is also a pair of adult conjoined twins named Yvette and Ivone, who were born in California, USA in 14, the only adult conjoined twins in the world today.Because the tops of their heads are closely connected, they live with their heads down or sideways all day long.However, this did not affect their determination to study and they are now studying university courses.When they were young, they liked to jump like other children. Although the doctor worried that they would break their necks during strenuous exercise, they, like the two brothers mentioned above, understood each other tacitly, as if they were one person.

first electronic watch
Electronic watches are a new type of timer that only began to appear in the 50s.The earliest electronic watch is the prototype of the electronic watch jointly announced by American Elgin Company and Lip Watch Company in 1952.This kind of watch is driven by an electromagnetic balance wheel instead of a mainspring, but the travel time is exactly the same as that of a mechanical watch. It is called the first generation of electronic watch. In 1960, the American Bulova Company first began to sell "Accuron" brand tuning fork electronic watches.This kind of watch uses the oscillation frequency of the tuning fork as the benchmark for travel time. Compared with the balance wheel electronic watch, it has a simpler structure and more accurate travel time. It is called the second-generation electronic watch.

In December 1969, Japan's Seikosha Company launched the 12SQ electronic watch.This is the earliest quartz electronic watch in the world. This kind of watch uses the natural oscillation frequency of quartz as the time reference. Through electronic circuits, it controls a micro motor to drive the pointer. It is called the third generation electronic watch.Quartz electronic watches are accurate in travel time, simple in structure, and many performance indicators exceed mechanical watches, so they are very popular among customers.

Soon after it appeared, the first and second generation electronic watches were eliminated.

From the first generation to the third generation of electronic watches, the pointer dial surface of the traditional watch has been retained, and the fourth generation of electronic watches, the digital display quartz electronic watch, has completely broken away from the form of the mechanical watch, and finally formed A brand new timepiece.Digital display electronic watches use light-emitting diodes or liquid crystals as display elements to directly indicate the time in numbers.The whole watch is composed of quartz crystal, integrated circuit, display screen and battery, without any moving parts, so it is also called "full electronic watch".The world's earliest all-electronic watch is the Pulsar digital display electronic watch sold by the American Hamilton Company in 1972.The watch used light-emitting diodes as display elements and was priced at $2000 at the time.

The full electronic watch is more accurate than the analog quartz electronic watch, the structure is simpler than the analog quartz electronic watch, and it also has particularly good antimagnetic and shockproof performance.Moreover, in addition to displaying time, digital display electronic watches can also have multiple functions such as counting seconds, displaying date, week, starting and calculating, storing data, measuring blood pressure, measuring pulse, and alarming. An electronic watch combined with a TV.

longest war
Among the countless wars in history, the longest one is a protracted war between Britain and France on French soil.This war lasted for more than 1337 years from the outbreak of the war in 1453 to the end of the war in 100, so it was called the "Hundred Years' War" in history.

The Hundred Years' War was ostensibly caused by the succession of the French throne, but in fact it was a struggle between the feudal dynasties of Britain and France for the rich Flanders region. In 1328, the French Gape dynasty had no heirs, and Philip VI (1328-1350), a descendant of the Valois family, succeeded to the throne and began the rule of the Valois dynasty.King Edward III of England (1327-1377) competed for the right of succession as the grandson of King Philip IV of France, which became an excuse for war.The most direct cause of this war was to fight for the Flanders region.The French ruling class had long coveted Flanders. In the 14s, an uprising of the lower class citizens and peasants occurred in Flanders. The Earl of Flanders was forced to ask the King of France for help. King Philip VI of France took advantage of this opportunity to suppress the uprising in 20 and cancel the The city's autonomy established direct rule.

The UK has close economic ties with Flanders and is an important market for the UK's main wool exports.Therefore, the British ruling class has long dreamed of Flanders.One coveted, one dreamed of; one took the opportunity to gain direct rule, and the other watched the "fat" being snatched away by others.For this reason, Britain launched the war on the pretext of inheritance.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the war escalated, and Britain took advantage of the internal strife between the two major French feudal ruling groups, the Duke of Orleans and the Duke of Burgundy, to invade France aggressively and occupied the northern part of France and the capital Paris. In October 1428, the British devoted all their efforts to besieging the city of Orleans, south of Paris.The city of Orleans is the gateway to the south of France. Once it falls, the British army will drive straight in, and the whole of France is in danger of falling.

At the critical moment of the country's survival, the contradictions within the French ruling class were eased, and the army and the people united to fight hard, and finally drove the British army out of their own land and ended the war.

longest letter sent

On August 1492, 8, Columbus organized an expedition with the funds of the Spanish royal family and merchant companies, carrying 3 crew members and 90 Spanish royals on board the "Santa Maria", "Niya" and "Pinta". The dispatched personnel departed from the port of Barcelona in Spain and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to find the "New World".These three sailing ships were not very strong, and within a month after going to sea, the "Santa Maria" was swallowed by waves and sank to the bottom of the sea. After 30 days, I finally arrived at San Salvador Island (Watlin Island) in the Americas.On this newly discovered continent, Columbus made a period of investigation, and then discovered islands such as Cuba and Haiti. On January 3, 1, Columbus decided to return.Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night of February 69th, a strong wind blew up on the sea, and huge waves rushed towards the small sailing boat like mountains and seas. Columbus worried that if the boat sank to the bottom of the sea, the world would not know their new discovery. Passed by, written on parchment, along with a map of America, wrapped tightly in wax-soaked cloth, stuffed in a barrel, and thrown into the sea, hoping to be discovered someday.Fortunately, after 1493 days, the sea was calm, and Columbus returned to the port of Barcelona safely on March 1.

But this "cask letter" was not picked up by an American captain in the Strait of Gibraltar until 1852.

Counting, this letter drifted on the vast ocean for 359 years.

It is also reported that in 1596, Queen Elizabeth I of England wrote a letter about trade to Ming Shenzong Zhu Xu of our country.Unfortunately, the letter was wrecked at sea with the ship, and it was not recovered until 1978, which took 382 years.Later, the British Minister of Trade handed it over to my Minister of Foreign Trade.

longest reigning monarch
Among the surviving monarchies in the world, the oldest and longest reigning monarch is Sobhuza II of Swaziland.He was born on July 1899, 7. In December of the same year, his father died, so a baby under one year old was selected as the heir to the throne.His grandmother Rabote Sibeni was regency until he came of age.

From 1916 to 1919, Sobhuza studied at Lovdal College in Cape Town, South Africa. On September 1921, 9, Sobhuza II, who was 22 years old, officially ascended the throne and became the first highly educated king of Swaziland.The old king was called "Ngwenyama" (Ngwenyama), which means "lion", and people called him "lion" in Swaziland.His 21 wives bore him 100 children of varying ages.

Swaziland is located in southern Africa, with an area of ​​only 1.736 square kilometers and a population of about 54.For decades, King "Lion" has really painstakingly tried to maintain the stability and development of the country and maintain his own rule.He abolished the constitution, dissolved the parliament, banned political parties, and monopolized power by one person. The so-called cabinet was also composed entirely of his relatives.He devoted himself to the development of a national economy dominated by agriculture and animal husbandry, achieved basic self-sufficiency in the staple food corn, exported sugar, asbestos, timber, iron ore, citrus and other products, and also exported labor and developed tourism, making the government's financial revenue and expenditure On balance, the average annual income per person is around US$500, which is already at the upper-middle level among African countries.He does not live in a luxurious palace worth 1200 million US dollars. He would rather live in a mud room without electric lights and running water near the palace.Externally, he cautiously followed the path of neutrality, emphasizing good-neighborliness and friendship, so as to ensure the unimpeded flow of import and export channels through neighboring countries.All of this is what the aging monarch calls "steady driving."

(End of this chapter)