The Wonders of Time

It's time for a mind-blowing look at the history and mystery of time with the masters of timekeeping - travelling across the globe and even to the far reaches of space with Royal Observatory Greenwich's Curator of Time

Emily Akkermans is Curator of Time at Royal Museums Greenwich. She manages the horology collection, which has close links to astronomy, navigation, science and society. After studying horology at The Vakschool in Schoonhoven, she specialised in the restoration of antique clocks during an apprenticeship in Breda, the Netherlands. She then completed undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Conservation and Restoration at the University of Antwerp. After graduating, Emily moved to London to work in metals conservation at the National Maritime Museum. She participated in a doctoral partnership between the National Maritime Museum and the University of Edinburgh, on a project that combined maritime history, horology, scientific instruments, and history of science and technology. Her PhD looked at how chronometers were used on board early nineteenth-century voyages of exploration and how they relate to other navigational practices.