Standard time
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Standard time is the result of synchronizing clocks in different geographical locations within a time zone to the same time rather than using the local meridian as in local mean time or solar time. The time so set has come to be defined in terms of offsets from Universal Time. (See more about standard time.)

Where daylight saving time is used, "standard time" may refer to the time without daylight saving time.

History of standard time

Great Britain

A standardized time system was first used by British railways on December 11, 1847, when they switched from local mean time to GMT. It was also given the name Railway time reflecting the important role the railway companies played in bringing it about. The vast majority of Great Britain's public clocks were being synchronised using GMT by 1855.

North America

Prior to the 1883, local mean time was used throughout North America, resulting in an inordinate number of local times. This caused convoluted regional and national train schedules. Sandford Fleming, a Canadian, proposed Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute on February 8, 1879. On October 11, 1883, the heads of the major railroads met in Chicago at the former Grand Pacific Hotel^[1] to adopt the Standard Time System. The new system was adopted by most states almost immediately after railroads did so and finally officially adopted by the U.S. government almost fifty years later.

In 2007 the United States enacted a federal law formalizing the use of Coordinated Universal Time as the basis of standard time, and the role of the Secretary of Commerce (effectively, the National Institute of Standards and Technology) and the Secretary of the Navy (effectively, the U.S. Naval Observatory) in interpreting standard time.^[2]

Criticism

Standard time has been criticised by a small but vocal minority. The basis of such criticisms range from distrust of government to a belief that it disturbs circadian rhythms, to preferring traditional, non-mechanical natural markers of time, like sunsets, noon and sunrise.^[3]

The counter-argument to circadian rhythm-based criticism is that there is no specific reason that companies and business have to open or close at a specific time.

See also

• Solar time
• Time zone
• Universal Time
• Standard time movement

References

Further reading

• Ian R. Bartky (1989-01). "The adoption of standard time". Technology and Culture 30 (1): 25–56. doi:10.2307/3105430. 
• Eviatar Zerubavel (1982-07). "The standardization of time: a sociohistorical perspective". The American Journal of Sociology 88 (1): 1–23. doi:10.1086/227631. 
• "World Time Scales". National Institute of Standards and Technology Physics Laboratory (2002). Retrieved on 1997-08-26.

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