The Synchronisation and Standardisation of Time (1830-1970): Technological Innovation and Public Policy

Abstract

Clock-making has represented a fundamental sector for industrialisation, al-lowing a more precise division of labour and developing the competences for au-tomation, which was well understood by Charles Babbage. Besides precision, the problems of synchronisation and standardisation have characterised the creation of the uniform time dimension. This paper proposes the history of these processes with a glance at their protagonists. Scientific progress, technological innovation, institutions and cultural frames co-evolved assuring a favourable frame to indus-trialisation. That was possible thanks to a synergy between astronomers and clock-makers as well as between inventors and railways. Even when exact time was made a public good, access to it was quite demanding in technological terms. The history of railways let us understand how reliability and trust have been the crucial variables in the making of the industrialised society. Conventions and the passion of technicians with a faith in progress have been more relevant than the often disorienting action of governments or the uncertainty of market competition.