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The days are getting longer (at least in the Northern hemisphere) and isn't it lovely that when you come back from work it's still light outside? The phenomenon of Daylight Saving Time is only a little less than 100 years old, but ancient civilizations already adjusted their days according to the day length. In ancient Rome the hours of the day were counted from the moment of sunrise and so differed in actual time during the year. But the Romans also changed the length of their 'hours' during the year. A day (sunrise to sunset) was divided into twelve 'hours', which lasted 44 minutes at the winter solstice, but 75 minutes at the summer solstice!
Though not actually proposing Daylight Saving Time, Benjamin Franklin once published a letter suggesting people could economize on candles by rising earlier in summer. He also proposed measures such as taxes on window shutters and waking the public by firing cannons at sunrise....
British MP Robert Pearce introduced a Daylight Saving Bill before the House of Commons in 1908. A committee was set up to examine the matter, but in the end, the bill did not pass the House, nor did similar bills in the next few years. Interestingly, it was the Germans and their allies in WWI who first used the Daylight Saving Time in 1916, as a way to preserve precious coal during wartime. Britain and the rest of Europe soon followed suit and the USA adopted the measure in 1918.
After WWI the practice of Daylight Saving Time was dropped again in many places. It was brought back for different periods of time in different countries and adopted widely during WWII. It was however not until the 1970s that the practice became as standard as we now know it to be, mostly stimulated by the energy crises of that time period.
Though not actually proposing Daylight Saving Time, Benjamin Franklin once published a letter suggesting people could economize on candles by rising earlier in summer. He also proposed measures such as taxes on window shutters and waking the public by firing cannons at sunrise....
British MP Robert Pearce introduced a Daylight Saving Bill before the House of Commons in 1908. A committee was set up to examine the matter, but in the end, the bill did not pass the House, nor did similar bills in the next few years. Interestingly, it was the Germans and their allies in WWI who first used the Daylight Saving Time in 1916, as a way to preserve precious coal during wartime. Britain and the rest of Europe soon followed suit and the USA adopted the measure in 1918.
After WWI the practice of Daylight Saving Time was dropped again in many places. It was brought back for different periods of time in different countries and adopted widely during WWII. It was however not until the 1970s that the practice became as standard as we now know it to be, mostly stimulated by the energy crises of that time period.
