Object Details
- Description
- A chronoscope is a sophisticated clock that measures minute intervals of time. The most famous form was that designed by Matthäus Hipp, a German clockmaker who settled in Switzerland during the political turmoil of 1848. The “Peyer, Favarger et Cie. / Neuchatel, Suisse / N. 13482” inscription on the dial refers to the name of the firm after Hipp’s retirement in 1889.
- This example was used by Robert A. Millikin, professor of physics at the University of Chicago, and Harvey Fletcher, his graduate student, in the 1909 “oil drop” experiment that determined the charge of the electron. Milliken won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1923, in part because of this work.
- Ref: Thomas Schraven, “The Hipp Chronoscope,” http://vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/documents/schraven_art13.pdf
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- maker
- Peyer, Favarger et Cie
- date made
- around 1905
- Credit Line
- University of Chicago
- Measurements
- overall: 20 1/2 in x 8 1/2 in x 7 1/2 in; 52.07 cm x 21.59 cm x 19.05 cm
- overall: 20 5/8 in x 8 1/2 in x 8 in; 52.3875 cm x 21.59 cm x 20.32 cm
- Object Name
- chronoscope
