Is Time Capsule a cache left to us by our ancestors? Is there any relationship between Time Capsule and World Expo? Let's find out from the Encyclopedia about World Expo.

What is Time Capsule?

Time Capsule

“Time Capsule”is also named “Time Cabin” in modern sense. It is a container filled with a collection of representative articles of modern inventions and sealed and buried under ground for the people of decades, hundreds and even thousands years later to dig out and study. In fact, this practice has a very long historical origin. There was an ancient custom in the Western civilization that people always buried something, such as grains or coins, prior to some significant events or the cornerstone laying for some important buildings, in order to send certain massage to the uncertain future, but there was no uniform name for this practice at that time. Later, the scope of buried articles was constantly expanded, and those representing human knowledge and achievements were also buried underground for the people of thousands of years later to open.

Time Capsule Met with World Expo for the First Time

The 1939 New York World's Fairwas held in the honor of the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of the first U.S. President George Washington. This World's Fair exhibited many technologies that were soon put into use afterwards, and among them, the most future-oriented one with the highest technology content was a “Time Capsule” created by Westinghouse.

The staff of that time were creating Time Capsule

It was a special container weighed 363kg and named “Time Capsule”. Westinghouse buried it 15 meters (50 feet) below the site of the World’s Fair (Flushing Meadows-Corona Park) and mailed it to the future generations of 5,000 years later. Why was the journey of the “parcel” set to be 5,000 years? Because the human history with the written record approximately began about 5,000 years ago, when there was no pyramid yet. When the “Time Capsule” is opened after 5,000 years, our human beings will be at the intermediate point of 10,000 years of civilization.

Sketch of Time Capsule at 1939 New York World's Fair

After repeated selection by a committee composed of archaeologists, historians and scientists, the articles that were finally put into the space-time sealed container included 35 pieces of daily necessities such as alarm clock, tin-opener, glasses, fountain pen, toothbrush, poker, electric shaver and telephone cards, 75 kinds of textiles such as man-made fibers, 5 categories of goods such as various books, magazines, pictures and microfilm, and a 15-minute documentary film, recording Hughes Round-the-World Flight 1938, Owens breaking the 100-meter record at the Berlin Olympics, the preparatory process of 1939 New York World's Fair, and the bombing of Japanese aircraft in Guangzhou China in June 1938. Even an illustrated book was exquisitely prepared with an aim to teach the people of 5,000 years later to understand today's English with the aid of pictures. These objects embodied the wisdom of the human race of the twentieth century, and reflected the cross section of an era.

Tell the people of 5,000 years later how to identify today's English

A Letter to Future Generations

There was a special letter in the Time Capsule created during 1939 New York World's Fair. One day in August 1938, the world famous scientist Einstein received a phone call from U.S. president Roosevelt, who wanted Einstein to write a letter to the people of 5,000 years later as a gift to the world fair being held in New York the next year. With deep concern for the future, Einstein wrote A Letter to Future Generations in German.

In this letter, Einstein reviewed the important scientific and technological achievements made by human beings, and expressed his worries about wars, “Our age is full of innovative spirit, which makes our life very convenient”, but “Production and distribution are completely unorganized. Every person has to be caught in the panic of being eliminated by economic cycle, and driven by greedy possessive, and further, the people from different countries kill each other repeatedly." Einstein was pessimistic about the future of mankind, because he apparently had foreseen the coming of the disaster of the Second World War.

The place buried the capsule sealed with Einstein's letter

Popularization of Time Capsule

Since then, the Time Capsule has become popular at each session of World Expo.

Before the opening of 1970 Osaka World Expo, Japanese people buried two “Time Capsules” in front of Tenshu-kaku Osaka Castle Museum. They also deliberately built a silver “metal tomb” for the “Time Capsules” on the ground. The metal tomb was divided into two layers. “Time Capsule i” was placed at the bottom and designed to be opened in 6970 years. "Time capsule ii", would be opened in the year of 2000 for the first time and then will be opened every 100 years thereafter for people to check the status of the buried articles. At the same time, it will also provide experimental reference for the people of the next century.

Time capsule is buried under the metal tomb

A Time Capsule of Our Own

So far, burying a “Time Capsule” has been practiced by many hosting cities of World Expos, while the influence of “Time Capsule” is far more than the “Time Capsule” itself. Who can predict how the earth will be like in 5,000 years? Will the future be as good as we wish or as bad as we worry about? Our wise ancestors were fully worried about the future of mankind, and hence the birth of time capsule. We wish someday we don't need to worry about the possible catastrophes any more. "Time capsule" has mailed our love and blessing to the distant future generations. We are full of confidence in the future even going through the disasters of three lifetimes. (Edited by: Pan Yun and Lin Qiandie)