[time-nuts] Re: Mike Bovarnick and the first cesium clock

[Tom Van Baak]

Some related information...

Only a few Atomichron are left. The Smithsonian has one or two. There's 
one on display at the NAWCC museum in Columbia, PA, as mentioned in the 
article. A private collector in Pittsburgh, PA has one. And I have one. 
That find was the result of decades of searching, some luck, and a 2600 
mile road trip to pick up the monster from a dusty garage in Minnesota. 
Photos of that encounter are here (not in working condition):

http://leapsecond.com/museum/nc2001/

The Atomichron got some press from a recent talk I gave, see page 19:

http://leapsecond.com/ptti2020/2020-PTTI-tvb-Atomic-Timekeeping-Hobby.pdf

In that photo most of the electronics was removed so the massive cesium 
beam tube is visible in its entirety. The anonymous arms on the right 
are holding a modern cesium beam tube for comparison. A reporter at the 
conference wrote a nice bit about it [1].

---

There are several papers about the Atomichron and early cesium clocks:

"Atomichron: The Atomic Clock from Concept to Commercial Product"
Paul Forman, 1985
https://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/w/images/8/8d/Forman_Proc_IEEE_1985.pdf

"The First Atomic Clock Program: NBS, 1947-1954"
Paul Forman, 1985
http://time.kinali.ch/ptti/1985papers/Vol%2017_01.pdf

"A Historical Review of U.S. Contributions to the Atomic Redefinition of 
the SI Second in 1967"
Michael Lombardi, 2017
https://tf.nist.gov/general/pdf/2917.pdf

---

Now, back to the NAWCC article about Mike Bovarnick. I met Mike a few 
years ago when he made a presentation to a local NAWCC chapter. It is 
amazing (well, he is 97 now) that an original member of the team that 
built the first commercial cesium clock is still with us. I've arranged 
to talk with Mike, and since he's local, have him come over to see the 
Atomichron in my garage.

It may be a huge trip down memory lane for him, reading the original 
manual, seeing the schematics again, touching the actual circuits that 
he designed and worked on. I have many questions for him about the early 
days of the development of atomic clocks, or electronics in general 
going back to the 50's.

What that in mind, if any of you have questions for Mike please contact 
me off-list (tvb at leapsecond.com) and I'll sort them and make sure 
everyone's questions get answered during Mike's visit. This is a rare 
chance to talk with living history.

And thanks again, Gary, for posting that NAWCC article about Mike and 
the Atomichron.

/tvb

[1] https://insidegnss.com/time-is-relative-position-absolute/