Telling the story of time through location. Standing at a full 6m high, and the central feature within the atrium of a medical university, this slowly turning DNA Clock tells the story of time through its scientific location. Inspired by the cell structure of DNA molecules, the spiral timepiece rotates at one full revolution an hour. The glass beads on the 12 horizontal bands light up as each hour is passed, starting from the base. As the top band lights, midday or midnight is signified. Suggesting life and time, science and knowledge, the DNA Clock instils the thought that time is at the very centre of human existence, and that time and life can never be separated.
Secret of life
Telling the story of time through location, the design of the DNA Clock is inspired by its medical university environment. Through its DNA-like appearance, the clock links time with life, demonstrating that they are intrinsically linked. Just as DNA regulates genetic data, so the DNA structure in this timepiece regulates time.
King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia
DNA Clock
Dimensions
Height 11.4 metres
Footprint 9.3 metres diameter
Features
LED internally lit glass beads
Concealed lighting within base
Individual turning mechanisms for central and subsidiary stems
Precision movement
Accuracy greater than 1/100th sec, with power failure back-up
Position
Feature to research faculty atrium
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1866 AD
Mendel’s paper is published: units of inheritance in pairs; dominance and recessiveness; equal segregation; independent assortment. These ideas are not recognised for 34 years
1869 AD
DNA (first called ‘nuclein’) is identified by Friedrich Miescher as an acidic substance found in cell nuclei
1900 AD
Mendel’s experiments from 1866 are rediscovered
1902 AD
The chromosome theory of heredity is proposed
1905 AD
The word ‘genetics’ is coined by William Bateson
1905 AD
Some genes are linked and do not show independent assortment, as seen by Bateson and Punnett
1944 AD
It is found that DNA mediates heredity, as shown in Pneumococcus transformation experiments by Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty
1946 AD
Genetic material can be transferred laterally between bacterial cells, as shown by Lederberg and Tatum
1953 AD
DNA discovered to be in the shape of a double helix with antiparallel nucleotide chains and specific base pairing
1966 AD
The genetic code is cracked by a number of researchers
1977 AD
DNA sequencing technology is developed by Fred Sanger
1990s AD
Genome projects are begun. The yeast genome is complete in 1996
1990s AD
DNA microarrays are invented by Pat Brown and colleagues
1996-7 AD
The first cloning of a mammal (Dolly the sheep) is performed by Ian Wilmut and colleagues
2000 AD
The Drosophila genome is completed. The Arabidopsis genome is completed. The human genome is reported to be completed
2001 AD
The sequence of the human genome is released, and the post- genomic era officially begins
2007 AD
Plans unveiled for leading medical research university
2008 AD
Design approved by client – a sculptural timepiece to celebrate the discovery of DNA