HH Magazine de la Haute Horlogerie - March 2010
Fabrice Eschmann
"Everyone knows where in the week or month they are. What we're interested in is where in the second we are!" André Stefanov may look like the eternal student; behind this laidback exterior is a scientist at the head of his field. As director of the Time and Frequency Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Office of Metrology (METAS), he spends his days counting not seconds but nanoseconds (one billionth of a second). Assisting him in his task is an atomic clock so precise that it deviates by one second every 30 million years. Developed by Neuchâtel University, and currently in its test phase, this clock is unique in the world. It has been dubbed the Swiss Continuous Fountain (FOCS), a poetic name for a machine whose function is anything but decorative.
The days are getting longer
Until the mid-twentieth century, astronomers had the monopoly on time. The second, as a unit of measurement, was defined so that the mean solar day (from zenith to zenith) lasted 86,400 seconds. Locked away in their observatories, assisted by mechanical precision clocks, astrophysicists were the sole guardians of time's temple. Until, that is, a scientific revolution... Read more
BIPH
