The Atomic Clock (Classic)

The Atlas Obscura Podcast

How do we determine the time? Believe it or not, there is an official clock. It’s located in Boulder, Colorado at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and we go there to visit.

LEARN MORE: NIST doesn’t give public tours. But if you want to watch the seconds go by as precisely as humanly possible, dial (303) 499-7111.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

More description

How do we determine the time? Believe it or not, there is an official clock. It’s located in Boulder, Colorado at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and we go there to visit.

LEARN MORE: NIST doesn’t give public tours. But if you want to watch the seconds go by as precisely as humanly possible, dial (303) 499-7111.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2026-05-29 10 min
Listen elsewhere

Available Results

Generated results are saved to your library for reuse and search.

No generated results are available for this episode yet.

Transcript

No transcript is available for this episode yet.
Sign in to generate a transcript for review.
Sign in

Chapters

No chapters available.