Editing Sandford Fleming (section)

==Inventor of worldwide standard time==
[[File:Birthplace of Standard Time plaque, Toronto.jpg|thumb|right|400px|The [[Toronto]] site where Fleming first proposed standard time is marked by a provincial plaque<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.torontohistory.org/Pages/Birthplace_of_Standard_Time.html|title=Birthplace of Standard Time Historical Plaque|last=Brown|first=Alan L.|date=June 2010|website=Toronto's Historical Plaques|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402103112/http://www.torontohistory.org/Pages/Birthplace_of_Standard_Time.html|archive-date=2015-04-02|access-date=2015-04-02}}</ref>]]

Fleming is credited with "the initial effort that led to the adoption of the present time meridians".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/d.html|title=History & info – Standard time began with the railroads|website=www.webexhibits.org|access-date=February 13, 2018|archive-date=April 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422115309/http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/d.html|url-status=live}}</ref> After missing a train while travelling in [[Ireland]] because a printed schedule listed p.m. instead of a.m.,<ref name="TerrestrialTime"/>{{rp|8}} in 1876 he wrote a memoir "Terrestrial Time" where he proposed a single 24-hour clock for the entire world, conceptually located at the centre of the Earth and not linked to any surface meridian.<ref name="TerrestrialTime"/>{{rp|13}} He later called this time "Cosmopolitan time" and later still "Cosmic Time".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fleming |first1=Sandford |title=Universal or cosmic time |date=1885 |publisher=Toronto : Council of the Canadian Institute |isbn=978-0-665-61008-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_61008/page/n15/mode/2up}}</ref> He proposed 24 [[time zone]]s, each an hour wide or 15 degrees of longitude. The zones were labelled A-Y, excluding J, and arbitrarily linked to the Greenwich meridian, which was designated G. All clocks within each zone would be set to the same time as the others, and between zones the alphabetic labels could be used as common notation. So for example cosmopolitan time G:45 would map to local time 14:45 in one zone and 15:45 in the next.<ref name="TerrestrialTime">{{cite book |last1=Fleming |first1=Sandford |title=Terrestrial time: a memoir |date=1876 |isbn=9780665061127 |url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_06112/page/n17/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=One Time Fits All: The Campaigns for Global Uniformity|last1=Bartky|first1=Ian|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2007|isbn=9780804756426|location=Stanford, California|pages=54–55}}</ref>

In two papers "Time reckoning" and "Longitude and Time Reckoning" presented at a meeting of the Canadian Institute in Toronto on February 8, 1879, Fleming revised his system to link with the anti-meridian of [[Royal Observatory, Greenwich|Greenwich]] (the [[180th meridian]]). He suggested that a [[prime meridian]] be chosen and analyzed shipping numbers to suggest Greenwich as the meridian.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fleming |first1=Sandford |title=Papers on time-reckoning and the selection of a prime meridian to be common to all nations: transmitted to the British government by His Excellency the Governor-General of Canada |date=1879 |publisher=Toronto |isbn=9780665031359 |url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_03135/page/n13/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| issue = 1| pages = 345–366| last = Fleming| first = Sandford| title = Time-reckoning for the twentieth century| journal = Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution| date = 1886| url = https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/annualreportofbo18861smit}} Reprinted in 1889: {{Internet Archive|timereckoningfor00flem|''Time-reckoning for the twentieth century''}}.</ref> Fleming's two papers were considered so important that in June 1879 the British Government forwarded copies to eighteen foreign countries and to various scientific bodies in England.<ref>{{harvnb|Howse|1980|p=132}}</ref>

Fleming went on to advocate his system at several major international conferences including the Geographical Congress at Venice in 1881,<ref name="IGC Venice">{{cite web | title=Report upon the Third International Geographical Congress and Exhibition at Venice, Italy, 1881 : accompanied by data concerning the principal government land and marine surveys of the world : Wheeler, George M. (George Montague), 1842-1905 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive | website=Internet Archive | date=23 October 2016 | url=https://archive.org/details/reportuponthirdi00whee/mode/2up | access-date=18 November 2024}}</ref> a meeting of the Geodetic Association at Rome in 1883,<ref>{{cite journal | last=Guinot | first=Bernard | title=Solar time, legal time, time in use | journal=Metrologia | volume=48 | issue=4 | date=1 August 2011 | issn=0026-1394 | doi=10.1088/0026-1394/48/4/S08 | pages=S181–S185| bibcode=2011Metro..48S.181G }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Howse|1980|p=136}}</ref> and the [[International Meridian Conference]] of 1884.<ref name="PM&IST">{{cite journal | last1=Black | first1=H. D. | last2=Gebel | first2=G. | last3=Newton | first3=R.R. |date=October–December 1984 |title=The Centenary of the Prime Meridian and of International Standard Time |url=https://secwww.jhuapl.edu/techdigest/Content/techdigest/pdf/V05-N04/05-04-Black.pdf |journal=Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest |volume=5 |issue=4. Space Research and Development—I |pages=381–389 | bibcode=1984JHATD...5..381B |access-date=18 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_29/October_1886/Universal_Time |magazine=Popular Science Monthly |title=Universal Time | volume=29 |date=October 1886 |author=William Henry Mahoney Christie |access-date=2011-08-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823075712/http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_29/October_1886/Universal_Time |archive-date=August 23, 2013 |df=mdy-all|page=799}}</ref> The International Meridian Conference accepted the [[Greenwich Meridian]] and a universal day of 24 hours beginning at Greenwich midnight. However, the conference's resolution specified that the universal day "shall not interfere with the use of local or standard time where desirable". The conference also refused to accept his zones, stating that they were a local issue outside its purview.<ref name=imc>{{citation |title=International conference held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day. October, 1884. Protocols of the proceedings. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433084034655&view=1up&seq=211 |access-date=July 23, 2018 |year=1884 |page=201 |publisher = Gibson bros.|location=Washington, D. C.}}</ref>

Fleming authored the pamphlet "Time-Reckoning for the 20th Century",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fleming |first1=Sandford |title=Time-reckoning for the twentieth century |date=1889 |publisher=Byson S. Adams |location=Washington |url=https://archive.org/details/timereckoningfor00flem/page/n1/mode/2up}}</ref> published by the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in its annual report for 1886.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Smithsonian Institution |title=Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution |date=1889 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington |pages=345–366 |url=https://archive.org/details/annualreportofbo18861smit/page/n441/mode/2up}}</ref>

By 1929, all major countries in the world had accepted time zones. In the present day, [[UTC offsets]] divide the world into zones, and [[military time zones]] assign letters to the 24 hourly zones, similarly to Fleming's system.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stromberg |first1=Joseph |title=Sandford Fleming Sets the World's Clock |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/sandford-fleming-sets-the-worlds-clock-389930/ |work=Smithsonian Magazine |date=November 18, 2011 |language=en}}</ref>

Fleming was also interested in global calendar reform. He met [[Moses B. Cotsworth]] in 1908 when Cotsworth visited Ottawa. They discussed the [[International Fixed Calendar]] over lunch and Fleming agreed to present Cotsworth's paper on his 13-month calendar to the [[Royal Society of Canada]].<ref>Cook, Anna J. (1st August 2024) A Man Beyond Time: Moses B. Cotsworth's fight for the 13-month calendar, Independent Publishing Network ISBN 978-1-80517-720-3</ref> Fleming maintained a close friendship with Cotsworth and they often corresponded by letter. Fleming became the president of the International Fixed Almanak Reform League which, in 1922, became the [[International Fixed Calendar League]]. He supported the campaign until his death. Cotsworth later wrote The Greatest Canadian as a tribute to Fleming.<ref>Cotsworth, M. B. (n.d.) The Greatest Canadian Vancouver: Author</ref>