The ancient reason there are 60 minutes in an hour

14 hours ago

The French Republic attempted to decimalize time in 1793, dividing the day into 10 hours, each with 100 minutes, but the system was abandoned after causing practical difficulties.
The Sumerians, an ancient Mesopotamian civilization, developed a base-60 (sexagesimal) number system, which influenced modern timekeeping (60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute).
The Babylonians adopted the Sumerian sexagesimal system and further divided time into smaller units, influencing later Greek and Hellenistic timekeeping methods.
Ancient Egyptians were the first to divide the day into 12 hours, leading to the 24-hour day, possibly influenced by star clocks and religious practices.
Mechanical clocks in the 12th century improved timekeeping accuracy, but it wasn't until the 18th century that minutes and seconds became commonly used in daily life.
Atomic clocks, developed in the 20th century, redefined the second with extreme precision, using caesium-133 atoms, and now underpin modern technologies like GPS and the internet.
The decimal time experiment in France lasted only 17 months, failing due to lack of practical advantage and disruption to existing systems, unlike the successful adoption of metric measurements.

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