What I mean to ask is that how did people coordinate day to day activities without a universal date and time system? And how did the current date and time system get implemented universally?
In: 5
People have touched on your questions and trains are indeed a main reason times got standardized. I just wanna elaborate on one earlier use of accurate timekeeping: finding longitude when at sea. Latitude (where you are north/south) is relatively easy by checking the positions of stars at night – how high above the horizon the north star is or whatever – but longitude (east/west) is harder because the earth’s rotating. But if you have an accurate clock, that keeps correct time even as the ship is tossed about on the sea, you can check the sun’s position in the sky when your clock says noon (so the sun is directly overhead where you started from) – the difference in the sun’s position from directly overhead tells you how far east or west you are from the starting point. Britain’s Parliament set up a big cash prize for anyone who could come up with an accurate method in 1714 and a guy named John Harrison spent almost fifty years perfecting a clock to do it (and then getting them to give him the prize money he deserved).
Latest Answers