Time feels natural, but the way we measure it is entirely human-made. From Mesopotamian star charts and Egyptian solar calendars to Roman reforms, medieval clock towers, and modern atomic precision, this episode explores how we constructed the framework of time itself.

3 Timeless Takeaways:

1. How ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt laid the foundations for calendars and timekeeping.
2. Why the Babylonians chose base-60 and how it still shapes our clocks today.
3. How mechanical clocks, trains, and atomic physics transformed time into the precise system we live by.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• More on the Sexagesimal System: My eponymic contribution to Sexagesimal math - Math! Science! History!™
• Leap Year, Caesar’s Propaganda, and a New Calendar: Leap Year, Caesar's propaganda, and a new calendar - Math! Science! History!™
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on Atomic Time: https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division

🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h

🌍 Let’s Connect!
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YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube
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• Music:
  All music is public domain and has no copyright and rights reserved.
• Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
• Travelling and Discovering by Musinova from Pixabay
• Lake of Light by Vinsvept from Pixabay
• Orlando Gibbons (bap.1583-1625) - Galliard à3, for Treble & Bass Viols with Great Bass,
• Dr. Phillip W. Serna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  
• Deafening Bounce Groove by Rockot from Pixabay

Until next time, carpe diem!

We use maps all day, including Google Maps, Waze, Apple Maps. We use them without even noticing that every one of them distorts reality. In this episode, Gabrielle explains why flattening a round Earth always bends the truth, how classic projections (like Mercator) live inside today’s apps, and why those distortions shape our mental picture of the world. Practical, visual, and myth-busting, this is cartography you can feel on your daily commute.

To hear the podcast on Marie Tharp, visit: Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak

Three Coordinates to Remember

1. Why distortion is unavoidable when projecting a 3D globe onto a flat screen (thanks, Gauss).
2. How Web Mercator powers Google Maps/Waze, great for street-level navigation, misleading at global scales.
3. How projection choices shape perception, from Greenland vs. Africa to who appears “big” or “central” on a map.

Resources & Visuals

• Gall–Peters (equal-area) projection:
  Peters Projection Map: Everything Your Ever Wanted To Know
• Compare Map Projections:
  https://map-projections.net/compare.php
• Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion map (unfolded globe):
  https://www.bfi.org/about-fuller/dymaxion-map
• “The True Size Of…” (drag countries to compare real sizes):
  https://thetruesize.com

🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h

🌍 Let’s Connect!
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history
YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory

🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?

If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:
🌟 Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show!
📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!
🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform

☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal

🛍 Check out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store

🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!