Hipp Chronoscope
date: label: date made
content: around 1905
name: label: maker
content: Peyer, Favarger et Cie
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: Ref: Thomas Schraven, “The Hipp Chronoscope,” http://vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/documents/schraven_art13.pdf
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Switzerland: Neuchâtel, Neuchatel
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: University of Chicago
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.336605
label: catalog number
content: 336605
label: accession number
content: 1978.0798
objectType: label: Object Name
content: chronoscope
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: 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
label: Measurements
content: overall: 20 5/8 in x 8 1/2 in x 8 in; 52.3875 cm x 21.59 cm x 20.32 cm