Who was Sandford Fleming? And who invented worldwide standard time zones?

A Canadian engineer of Scottish birth, Fleming was a prolific designer who was knighted for his accomplishments by Queen Victoria in 1897.

Sandford Fleming
He was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland in 1827, a period when regions used the solar time to set their own clocks. Fast-forward to Ireland in 1876, when a mistake printed in a timetable caused Fleming to miss his train, an incident which apparently inspired his proposal for the introduction of standardised time. He presented the idea of a worldwide standard time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute (RCI) on February 8, 1879. Fleming advocated for dividing the world into 24 time zones beginning at the Greenwich Meridian and spaced at 15 degree intervals. It followed the introduction of Greenwich Mean Time across Great Britain in 1847. His proposal gave way to the International Prime Meridian Conference which convened in 1884 and was attended by 25 nations. It was here that Fleming’s system of the international standard time was adopted. Fleming was also known for helping build the Intercontinental Railway, serving as chief engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and designing Canada’s first postage stamp.



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