Ideal vs. Real: Searching for Perfection in an Imperfect Universe

America's first watchmaking guild, founded 1866.

Horological Society of New York

Jack Forster, Global Editorial Director, The 1916 Company (New York, New York)

The General Society Library

<h3>PLEASE NOTE JUNE’S LECTURE WILL BEGIN AT 6 PM.</h3> The world of horology, of timekeeping and calendar reckoning, is based on the assumption that in the world around us, there are orders that can be reflected in watches and clocks. This includes everything from the simplest precision timekeepers, which rely on the stability of mechanical, electromechanical, and quantum oscillators, to highly complex calendars and calendar systems that reflect cycles in the physical universe, including the motion of astronomical bodies. Beginning from an examination of the simplest ideal classical oscillator – a pendulum with a massless rod, swinging in a vacuum on a frictionless bearing – this lecture will look at the gaps between ideal systems and their physical manifestations.At the June lecture of the Horological Society of New York (HSNY), Jack Forster, Global Editorial Director of The 1916 Company, will look at factors affecting the stability of oscillators and also at the behavior of longer natural cycles that determine the structure of calendars. In both cases, the great challenge is for horologists to understand that it is fundamentally and axiomatically impossible to ever duplicate the behavior of idealized systems – but the challenge is to get as close as you can. What connects the simplest and the most complex horological mechanisms, is their attempt to capture the ideal – whether an ideal oscillator or a perfectly harmonious calendar – in a mechanical form.*Doors open at 5:30 PM ET, lecture to begin at 6 PM ET. RSVP is required.** The lecture video will be available to members immediately, and to the general public following a two-month delay.

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Ideal vs. Real: Searching for Perfection in an Imperfect Universe

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