Time and the Fates Sundial

What's a sundial, anyway?

Sundials measure time like a clock does, but they use the sun to keep track of time. (Clocks use electricity, or batteries, or weights.) Sundials have been around a long time and were probably the first "clocks." All sundials have a pointer, called a gnomon, that casts a shadow, and a set of numbers that the shadow falls on as the Earth rotates on its axis. Manship's Time and the Fates Sundial at the New York World's Fair cast a shadow on steel Roman numerals set in beds of flowers along a walkway. Click here to watch the sundial work. (This requires Quicktime).