You wake to your programmed alarm clock, just like every morning. The clock displays 6 a.m., and it's time to start your workday, except this morning you have a thought…
What Exactly Is Time?
Now we all go about our day constrained by time, but what exactly is it? The definition of time, as found in the Oxford Dictionary, is the continuous progression of events from past to the present and into the future. Time essentially consists of your coffee earlier this morning to the blog post you’re currently reading and into the evening where hopefully you sleep like a baby.
Was Time Ever Invented?
Unlike the light bulb or Pilates, time was never really invented. It is theorized by many different ideas and religious beliefs on how time came to be. The Big Bang, one of the more popular beliefs, is that the Universe started as a singularity, eventually expanding rapidly during the event known as the Big Bang. You may be asking yourself ‘So did time not exist prior to the Big Bang?’ and my response would be to quote Astrophysicist Emma Osborne from the University of York: "Time only exists as the Universe exists". Christianity on the other hand, takes a different look on the invention/beginning of time. This can easily be displayed by the first chapter and verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. This religious belief would then present an Inventor of time, being God. Now many more ‘inventions’ of time are taught and believed all around the world but they all come to the same conclusion… “Do I go to the gym now or later?”.
Measuring Time, Not Inventing It
Now the invention of time and the measurement of time are very different issues and commonly mixed up. Both the sundial, invented by the Ancient Egyptians or Hans Wilsdorf, the creator of Rolex, weren’t inventors of time but rather of tools that measure it. Based on an article by Stephanie Pappas, we humans have been measuring this concept of time since using the oldest sundial in Egypt, around 1500 B.C., which was simply measuring the length of a stick's shadow as the sun moves across the sky. Now if you were utilizing this measurement of time, it would most likely give you a valid excuse for being late to the office… again.
Time: Always Here, Always Ahead
As we have come to find, time and the universe existed long before our birth and will likely continue long after we are gone. We have yet to credit anyone with the invention of time and unless something radically new emerges, it will likely continue to be chalked up to ‘Natural Phenomena’.
Sources
Pappas, S. (2024, February 20). Who invented the measurement of time?. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/who-invented-the-measurement-of-time/
Marshall, M. (2023, November 18). How did time begin, and how will it end?. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231115-how-did-time-begin-and-how-will-it-end