Anyone know how daylight savings time came about?

Answer 1

DST was first mentioned by Benjamin Franklin in a letter to the editors of the Journal of Paris.However, as the article was humorous it is not clear whether Franklin was seriously proposing that the French adopt it, or simply that that people should get up and go to bed earlier.

Answer 2

It was first seriously proposed by William Willett in the "Waste of Daylight", published in 1907, but he was unable to get the British government to adopt it, despite considerable lobbying.

The idea of DST was first put into practice by the German government during the First World War, between April 30, 1916 and October 1, 1916. Shortly afterward, the United Kingdom followed suit, first adopting it between May 21 and October 1, 1916. On June 17, 1917 Newfoundland became the first North American jurisdiction to adopt DST with the passing of the Daylight Saving Act of 1917. On March 19, 1918, the U.S. Congress established several time zones, which had been in use by railroads and most cities since 1883 and made DST official, effective March 31, for the remainder of World War I. It was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. The law, however, proved so unpopular, mostly because people rose and went to bed earlier than in current times, that it was repealed in 1919, in which Congress overrode Woodrow Wilson's veto of the repeal.

Answer 3

1784 - Benjamin Franklin is thought to to have come up with the idea for daylight-saving time. In a whimsical letter to a French journal, he said that Parisians could save thousands of francs a years by waking up earlier during the summer because it would prevent them from having to buy so many candles to light the evening hours.

1918 - The U.S. first adopts daylight-saving time, in the same act that created standard time zones, in an effort to save energy during World War I. It didn't prove popular, and, as a result, it was repealed the following year.

1942 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted "war-time," a year-round daylight-saving time to save energy during World War II. After the year round shift ended in 1945, many states adopted their own summer time changes.

1966 - Congress established a national pattern for summer time changes with the Uniform Time Act. The act came in response from the transportation industry, which demanded consistency across time zones. The U.S. Department of Transportation now oversees time changes in the United States.

1973 - An oil embargo by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries led Congress to enact a test period of year-round daylight-saving time in 1974 and 1975. The test period was controversial; it ended after complaints that the dark winter mornings endangered children traveling to school. The U.S. returned to summer daylight-saving time in 1975.

1986 - The Federal law is amended to start daylight-saving time on the first Sunday in April, beginning in 1987. The ending date of daylight-saving time was never changed, and remains the last Sunday in October.

Answer 4

It came about when we were primarily an agrarian (farming) society. Farmers found it more convenient to have the extra daylight to work outside.

Answer 5

WOW! What a bunch of know nothings.

Daylight savings was adopted to help save School Children from being run over in the dark! Period!

Answer 6

World War II , to conserve energy resources .

Answer 7

there were no computers at the time and people where bored..