His discovery, although never fully exploited by Galileo himself, opened a new era in timekeeping. Within three decades after Galileo’s death the average error of the best timepieces was reduced from fifteen minutes to only ten seconds per day. A clock that kept perfect step with countless other clocks elsewhere made time a measure transcending space. Citizens of Pisa could know what time it was in Florence or in Rome at that very moment. Once such clocks were synchronized they would stay synchronized. No longer a mere local convenience for measuring the craftsman’s hours or fixing the time
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