Wallman’s conjecture
Philip Woodward · 1995
Abstract Clockwork may already have reached its apogee when it was eclipsed by electronics, but curiosity compels us to ask whether extra time might have improved the score. It is a question which has fascinated many scientific horologists. A generation back, the distinguished names which would have sprung to mind were those of Vannevar Bush and John Early Jackson in the United States, who were convinced that pendulum accuracy still had some way to go. Their well-known project was reported in Scientific American (Strong 1960), but as is so often the case the final outcome of the experiment is obscure; one can only presume that it proved a disappointment. It has been reported (Cain and Boucheron 1994) that Jackson was never able to adjust the spring in the ingenious compensator for circular error. Enthusiasts approaching the subject from every angle are too numerous to name, yet by present-day standards progress has been slow.