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The history of timekeeping devices dates back to ancient civilizations observing astronomical bodies. Sundials and water clocks originated in ancient Egypt, while incense clocks were used in China. Mechanical clocks were developed in medieval Europe after the invention of the bell-striking alarm; Henry de Vick built a mechanical clock around 1360 that was the basis for improvements in timekeeping for the next 300 years. The mainspring, invented in the 15th century, allowed small clocks to be built. Leonardo da Vinci produced the earliest drawings of a pendulum. The pendulum clock, designed by Christiaan Huygens in 1656, was more accurate than other mechanical timekeepers. The electric clock, invented in 1840, controlled the most accurate pendulum clocks until the 1940s, when quartz timers became the basis for precise measurement of time and frequency. Atomic clocks are the most accurate timekeeping devices in practical use today and are used to calibrate timekeeping instruments. (Full article...)

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On this day

January 1: Public Domain Day; Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Roman Rite Catholicism)

Ellis Island

1739 – Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, the most remote island in the world, was discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
1773 – The hymn "Amazing Grace" was probably first used in a prayer meeting in Olney, England, without the music familiar to modern listeners.
1892 – The immigration station on Ellis Island (pictured) in New York Harbor opened, and would process almost 12 million immigrants to the United States over the course of its existence.
1928 – Joseph Stalin's personal secretary, Boris Bazhanov, crossed the Iranian border and defected from the Soviet Union.
1998 – Argentinian physicist Juan Maldacena published a landmark paper initiating the study of AdS/CFT correspondence, which links string theory and quantum gravity.

Lorenzo de' Medici (b. 1449)
Eugène-Anatole Demarçay (b. 1852)
Shirley Chisholm (d. 2005)

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Today's featured picture

Schloss Favorite is a maison de plaisance and hunting lodge built in the Baroque style in Ludwigsburg, Germany. It is located on a rise, directly north of Ludwigsburg Palace and connected via an avenue to it. This panorama of Schloss Favorite, taken in January 2017, was stitched from eight separate photographs captured from the avenue linking it to the palace. The building is shown in a snow-covered clearing in the woods, framed by bare trees lining the avenue.

Photograph credit: Julian Herzog

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