{{About|the timing device|the exoplanet detection method|pulsar timing}} {{short description|Clock based on pulsar radio beams}}
{{Infobox tool | name = Pulsar clock | caption = A screen displaying pulsar time as measured in Gdańsk | image = Gdańsk – zegar pulsarowy ekran.JPG | classification = Clock | uses = Extremely accurate time measurement | inventor = Several designers funded by the {{ill|Gdańsk Museum|pl|Muzeum Gdańska}} }}
A '''pulsar clock''' is an extremely accurate clock which functions by measuring radio pulses emitted by pulsars. Currently, only one such clock exists and is located in a church in Gdańsk, with a repeater in the building of the European Parliament in Brussels.
==Pulsar clock in Gdańsk== The first, and currently only, existing pulsar clock in the world was constructed in Gdańsk, in St. Catherine's Church, in 2011, with its primary goal being verifying and possibly surpassing the accuracy of atomic clocks.<ref>{{cite web |date=23 November 2011 |title=Najdokładniejszy zegar świata powstał w Polsce |url=https://polskieradio24.pl/artykul/485255,najdokladniejszy-zegar-swiata-powstal-w-polsce |website=polskieradio24.pl |publisher=Polskie Radio |access-date=22 July 2025}}</ref> It receives radio pulses from pulsars by way of a dipole antenna accompanying a radiotelescope mounted on the bell tower of St. Catherine's Church.<ref name = :0>{{cite web |date=5 October 2011 |title=Gdański Zegar Pulsarowy w Parlamencie Europejskim |url=http://www.gpnt.pl/pl/z-ycia-parku/aktualnosci-parku/594-gdaski-zegar-pulsarowy-w-parlamencie-europejskim.html |website=gpnt.pl |publisher=Gdański Park Naukowo-Technologiczny |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621021713/http://www.gpnt.pl/pl/z-ycia-parku/aktualnosci-parku/594-gdaski-zegar-pulsarowy-w-parlamencie-europejskim.html |archive-date=21 June 2013 |access-date=22 July 2025}}</ref>
It was created due to the initiative of the {{ill|Gdańsk Museum|pl|Muzeum Gdańska}} and built by a team of scientists, including Grzegorz Szychliński, the head of the {{ill|Museum of Clock Towers|pl|Muzeum Zegarów Wieżowych}} of the Gdańsk Museum, electrical engineers Dariusz Samek and Mirosław Owczynnik from the company EKO Elektronik, and Eugeniusz Pazderski, an astronomer from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.<ref>{{cite web |date=6 October 2011 |title=Gdański Zegar Pulsarowy |url=https://www.mhmg.gda.pl/index.php?view=event,339&oddzial=5 |website=mhmg.gda.pl |publisher=Muzeum Historycznego Miasta Gdańska |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111213061916/https://www.mhmg.gda.pl/index.php?view=event,339&oddzial=5 |archive-date=13 December 2011 |access-date=22 July 2025}}</ref>
Another goal of the clock is to create a pulsar-based timescale surpassing the accuracy of all atomic clocks.<ref name = :0 /> Its place of construction was chosen to be Gdańsk for various reasons, including the city being home to noted selenographer and astronomer Johannes Hevelius, claimed to be one of the pioneers of the pendulum clock.<ref>{{cite web |last=McCready |first=Alex |date=2007 |title=Forgotten Pioneer of the Pendulum Clock, Johann Hevelius |url=http://www.antique-horology.org/_editorial/hevelius/ |website=antique-horology.org |access-date=22 July 2025}}</ref> Alluding to this, the clock began measuring time on his 400th birthday.<ref>{{cite web |date=24 November 2011 |title=W Gdańsku działa najdokładniejszy czasomierz świata – zegar pulsarowy |url=https://naukawpolsce.pl/aktualnosci/news,386338,w-gdansku-dziala-najdokladniejszy-czasomierz-swiata-zegar-pulsarowy.html |website=naukawpolsce.pl |publisher=Polska Agencja Prasowa |access-date=22 July 2025}}</ref> On 5 October 2011, in the building of the European Parliament, located in Brussels, a repeater of the original clock in Gdańsk was installed.<ref name = :0 />
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Clocks in Poland Category:Clocks in Belgium Category:Pulsars Category:Culture in Gdańsk Category:Culture in Brussels Category:Polish inventions