The Time of your World
Michael Vogt
The Atelier
 History
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| The Royal Greenwich Observatory publishes the Nautical Almanac establishing the longitude of Greenwich as a baseline for time calculations. GMT is set up to aid naval navigation as the globe begins to expand with the discovery of the "New World". |
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| Benjamin Franklin is the first to suggest the practice of Daylight Saving Time in a whimsical essay addressed to the editor of the Journal of Paris. |
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| GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) is established in Britain as the national time system on land and replaces all local times. It is only officially adopted by Parliament on August 2, 1880. |
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| The USA has around 300 different local times and most cities rely upon their own local “sun” time. However, the emerging railways make it possible to travel hundreds of miles in a day and require a consistent time zone system. |
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| The USA is divided into 4 time zones roughly centered on the 75°,, 90°, 105° and 120° Meridians. GMT is adopted at noon on November 18 and telegraph lines transmit the time signal to all major cities. |
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| On November 1, the International Meridian Conference in Washington, DC, applies the concept of 24 time zones around the world with Greenwich as Zero Meridian and Meridians every 15°. This system is still in place today. |
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| During World War I several countries, including Australia, Great Britain, Germany and the USA, adopt summer Daylight Saving Time. The time is advanced +1 hour to conserve fuel by reducing the need for artificial light. |
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| The numbering system is changed so that the day begins at midnight, as does the civil day. |
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| UT (Universal Time) replaces GMT. To alleviate the confusion in terminology, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopts the term Universal time (UT). The term GMT is still used for some purposes in navigation. |
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| 1942-45 During World War II the USA and some other nations keep their clocks advanced by an hour throughout the year. England uses “double summer time” (+2 hours) during summer months and standard summer time during winter months. |
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| UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) becomes effective internationally and since January 1, 1972 UTC is obtained from atomic clocks. The unit of UTC is the atomic second (SI). UTC replaces UT and GMT as a new reference in order to correct the slight inadequacy of timekeeping based on the motion of the earth. |
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| The U.S. Congress passes a law moving up the start of summer time to the first Sunday in April, while keeping its end on the last Sunday in October. |
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| The European Community introduces a harmonized Period for DST starting on the last Sunday in March and ending on the last Sunday in October. |
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