22 Questions About Time and Timekeeping Answered

Celestial bodies, such as the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, provided peoples of ancient civilizations a reference for measuring the passage of time. Ancient civilizations relied upon the apparent motion of these bodies through the sky to determine seasons, months, and years. Historians know little about the details of timekeeping in prehistoric eras, but wherever archaeologists do digs, they usually discover that in every culture some people were concerned with measuring and recording the passage of time. Hunters in Europe over 20,000 years ago scratched lines and gouged holes in sticks and bones, possibly counting the days between phases of the Moon. Five thousand years ago, Sumerians in the Tigris-Euphrates valley (in present-day Iraq) developed a calendar that divided the year into 30-day months, divided the day into 12 periods (each corresponding to two of our hours), and divided these periods into 30 parts (each like four of our minutes). The purpose of Stonehenge, built beginning in 3000 BCE in England, is ultimately unknown, but its alignments suggest one of its reasons for existence was to determine seasonal or celestial events, such as lunar eclipses and solstices.

Yes. The earliest Egyptian calendar was based on the Moon’s cycles, but later the Egyptians realized that the “Dog Star” in Canis Major (which today’s astronomers call Sirius) rose next to the Sun every 365 days, about when the annual inundation of the Nile began. Based on this knowledge, they devised a 365-day calendar that seems to have begun around 3100 BCE, which thus seems to be one of the earliest years recorded in history.

Before 2000 BCE, the Babylonians (in today's Iraq) used a year of 12 alternating 29-day and 30-day lunar months, resulting in a 354-day year. In contrast, the Mayans of Central America relied not only on the Sun and Moon but also the planet Venus to establish 260-day and 365-day calendars. This culture and its related predecessors spread across Central America between 2600 BCE and 1500 CE, reaching their apex between 250 and 900 CE. They left celestial-cycle records indicating their belief that the creation of the world occurred in 3114 BCE. Their calendars later became portions of the large Aztec calendar stones.

Much of the world today uses a 365-day solar calendar with a leap year occurring every fourth year (except century years not evenly divisible by 400). The modern clock is based on the number 60. In about 3000 BCE the Sumerians used a base-10 counting system and also a base-60 counting system. The timekeeping system inherited this pattern with 60 seconds per minute and 60 minutes per hour. Ten and 60 fit together to form the notion of time: 10 hours is 600 minutes; 10 minutes is 600 seconds; 1 minute is 60 seconds.

Each calendar year is exactly 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. This is the amount of time between two successive crossings of the celestial equator by the Sun at the vernal equinox (the first day of spring). The fact that the year is not a whole number of days has affected the development of calendars, which over time generate an error. The calendar in general use today, called the Gregorian calendar, attempts to fix this by adding an extra day to the month of February every four years. These years are called leap years.

The use of a 365-day calendar year with occasional leap years was introduced in 46 BCE with the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar was formed by Julius Caesar, who had commissioned the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes to revise the calendar system. Sosigenes used a tropical solar year, which calculates to 365.25 days per year. This was slightly off, because the actual tropical solar year is 365.242199 days. This discrepancy caused there to be 10 days missing by the year 1582. That year, Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull (decree) to fix the Julian calendar. The Jesuit astronomer Christoph Clavius undertook the pope’s decree and designed what is now known as the Gregorian calendar. In order to correct for the loss of one day every 130 years, the Gregorian calendar drops 3 leap years every 400 years. According to this system, years are leap years only if divisible by 400—thus, 1600 and 2000 are leap years; 1700, 1800, and 1900 are not. Because the solar year is shortening, today a one-second adjustment—called a leap second—is made (usually on December 31 at midnight) when necessary to compensate.

Scientists added an extra second—called a leap second—to 2008 to make up for the slowing down of Earth’s rotation. The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) in Paris, France, keeps track of time by measuring Earth’s rotation, which has been slowing down over time, and by an atomic clock, which never changes. When a difference in the two clocks shows up, IERS adds or subtracts a second to the year. Time has been measured by the planet’s rotation for thousands of years; however, it was not until 1949 that scientists developed a clock that kept perfect time. The IERS atomic clock keeps time by measuring the vibrations of atoms. As far as scientists know, the cesium atom—which vibrates 9,192,631,770 times per second—does not change over time and is the same everywhere on Earth and in space.

The Chinese lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the Moon, and it is constructed differently than the Western solar calendar. In the Chinese lunar calendar, the beginning of the year falls somewhere between late January and early February, and it contains 354 days. Each year is given an animal designation, such as “Year of the Ox.” A total of 12 different animal names are used, and they rotate in the following sequence: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare (Rabbit), Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep (Goat), Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. The Gregorian calendar has been in general use in China since 1911, but the lunar calendar is still used for festive occasions such as the Chinese New Year.

The term BC stands for “Before Christ,” and it is used to date events before the birth of Jesus Christ. AD is the abbreviation for the Latin phrase anno domini, which means “in the year of our Lord,” and it is used to date events after Jesus’s birth. Today, however, the terms BCE (meaning Before the Common Era) and CE (meaning Common Era) are often used instead. These abbreviations describe the same time periods as BC and AD, but they are not explicitly tied to Christianity.

A millennium is an interval of 1,000 years. A century is 100 consecutive calendar years. The first century consisted of years 1 through 100. The 20th century started with 1901 and ended with 2000. The 21st century began on January 1, 2001, although some people still bicker over when, exactly, a decade (and thus a century) begins.

The origins of the Gregorian calendar came from the ancient Roman practice of starting each month on a new moon. Roman bookkeepers would keep their records in a ledger called a kalendarium, which is the origin of the English word calendar. The original Roman calendar was 304 days long and had 10 months that began with March and ended with December. The Roman ruler Julius Caesar reorganized the calendar year to start with the month of January. Thus, the first month was named for Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings. February was named for Februalia, the Roman festival of purification. March was named for Mars, the Roman god of war. April comes from the Roman word aperire, meaning “to open”; this is the month when the trees and flower buds open. May is named for Maiesta (Maia), the Roman goddess of honor and reverence. June is named for Juno, the Roman queen of the gods. July is named after Caesar himself, who was born in this month, and August is named for Augustus, the Roman emperor. And the last four months of the year have numerical meanings: September comes from the word septem, meaning “seven”; October from the word octo, meaning “eight”; November from the word novem, meaning “nine”; and December from the word decem, meaning “ten.”

The days of the week in English are named for a mixture of figures in Roman and Anglo-Saxon mythology. The English language has inherited and changed those names a bit, but the ones used today resemble those names. For example, Sunday is named after the Sun, and it was originally called “Sun’s Day.” The Sun gave people light and warmth every day. Monday is named after the Moon, and it was originally called “Moon’s Day.” The Moon was considered very important in the lives of people and their crops. Tuesday was Tiw’s Day. Tiw (sometimes spelled Tiu or Tyr) was a Norse god known for his sense of justice. Wednesday was Woden’s Day; Woden (or Odin) was a powerful Norse god. Thursday was Thor’s Day, named for Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Friday was Frigg’s Day, named for Frigg, the Norse god of love and fertility. Saturday was Seater’s Day (or Saturn’s Day); Saturn was the Roman god of agriculture.

Yes. Many children learn this poem to help them remember how many days are in each month. Although the origin of the lyrics to “Thirty Days Hath September” is unclear, and its versions vary significantly, it probably dates to at least the 16th century:

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone,
And that has twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year.

Earth is divided into 24 time zones so that everyone in the world can be on roughly similar schedules. Until more than a century ago in the United States, each city set its clocks to local time. Noon was the time when the Sun was at its highest in the sky, as viewed from that city. In order to make this happen, however, even neighboring cities needed to set their clocks differently. For example, when it was 8:00 in New York City, it was 8:12 in Boston (because Boston is about three degrees east of New York). Before modern transportation and communication, this time difference did not really affect society. As railroads were being constructed in the late 1800s, however, the Canadian railway planner and engineer Sir Sandford Fleming proposed a world time-zone system. He did this so that train schedules could be written using common time settings. In November 1883 the U.S. and Canadian railroad companies instituted standard time in time zones. (Standard time in time zones was established by U.S. law with the Standard Time Act of 1918.) The concept was soon adopted internationally, with the world being divided into 24 time zones, each one a long strip from North Pole to South Pole, about 15 degrees of longitude wide. All the people in one time zone set their clock the same way, to the local time in the center of the time zone. Today, most countries use this time zone system.

There are four traditional seasons on Earth—spring, summer, fall (or autumn), and winter—and each is marked by the movement of the Sun in the sky. In the Northern Hemisphere, spring starts at the moment the Sun is directly over the Equator, going from south to north, called the vernal equinox. Summer starts the moment the Sun is farthest north, called the summer solstice. Fall begins the moment the Sun is directly over the Equator, going from north to south, called the autumnal equinox. Winter starts the moment the Sun is farthest south, called the winter solstice.

Sometimes called “summer time,” Daylight Saving Time (DST) temporarily extends daylight hours during the time when most people are awake. Much of the United States begins Daylight Saving Time at 2:00 AM on the second Sunday in March (when clocks are set forward one hour) and reverts to standard time on the first Sunday in November (when clocks are set back one hour). Different countries have different change dates. Although DST was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, it began in the United States during World War I, primarily to save fuel by reducing the need to use artificial lighting. Although some U.S. states and communities observed DST between the wars, it was not observed nationally again until World War II. Today, most of the United States continues to observe DST, although there are exceptions.

A sundial, one of the first instruments used to measure time, works by simulating the movements of the Sun. The Sun shines on a gnomon (pronounced NO-men), a triangle or device set perpendicular to a base plate, and casts its shadow on the appropriate hour line, thus displaying the time of day. The angle on the gnomon has to be parallel to Earth’s axis and must be equal to the latitude of the sundial’s location if it is to display accurate clock time.

Water clocks were among the earliest devices to measure time that didn’t depend on the observation of celestial bodies. One of the oldest was found in the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep I, buried around 1500 BCE. Later named clepsydras (“water thieves”) by the Greeks, who began using them about 325 BCE, these were stone vessels with sloping sides that allowed water to drip at a nearly constant rate from a small hole near the bottom. Other clepsydras were cylindrical or bowl-shape containers designed to slowly fill with water coming in at a constant rate. Markings on the inside surfaces measured the passage of “hours” as the water level reached them. These clocks were used to determine hours at night, but they may have been used in daylight as well. Another version consisted of a metal bowl with a hole in the bottom; when placed in a container of water, the bowl would fill and sink in a certain time.

In Europe during most of the Middle Ages (roughly 500 to 1500 CE), simple sundials placed above doorways were used to identify midday and four “tides” (important times or periods) of the sunlit day. By the 10th century, several types of pocket sundials were used. Then, in the first half of the 14th century, large mechanical clocks began to appear in the towers of several large Italian cities. Historians do not have any evidence or record of the working models that preceded these public clocks, which were weight-driven. Another advance was the invention of spring powered clocks between 1500 and 1510 by Peter Henlein of Nuremberg. Replacing the heavy drive weights permitted smaller, portable, clocks and watches. Although they ran slower as the mainspring unwound, they were popular among wealthy individuals due to their small size and the fact that they could be put on a shelf or table instead of hanging on the wall or being housed in tall cases. These advances in design were precursors to truly accurate timekeeping.

A grandfather clock, also called a long-case clock or floor clock, is a freestanding, weight-driven, pendulum clock. Its pendulum, which swings back and forth, is kept inside its tower. Clocks of this style are commonly 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) tall. The case often features carved ornamentation on the hood, called a bonnet, which surrounds and frames the dial, or clock face. These clocks have a long history. In 1582 the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered that a pendulum could be used to keep time. He studied pendulum clocks, and drew the first designs for a grandfather clock. In 1656 the Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens applied what Galileo had discovered and built the first working grandfather clock. (He also patented a pocket watch in 1675.) The first grandfather clocks did not keep time well, often losing as many as 12 minutes a day. In 1670 the English clockmaker William Clement noticed that by making the pendulum in the clock longer he could make the clock keep better time. His longer pendulums required longer cases, which led to the name “long case” clock and, later, grandfather clock. Most grandfather clocks are “striking” clocks, which means they sound the time on each hour.

The wristwatch was first manufactured by the Swiss watch manufacturer Patek Philippe in 1868. During World War I, military personnel found that the wristwatch was far more beneficial on the battlefield than the day’s popular pocket watches. Soldiers fitted their watches into primitive “cupped” leather straps so they could be worn on the wrist, thereby freeing up their hands to operate weaponry. It is believed that the Swiss watchmaker Girard-Perregaux equipped the German Imperial Navy with similar pieces as early as the 1880s, which they wore on their wrists while synchronizing naval attacks. Many European and American officers kept their wristwatches once the war was over, thus popularizing wristwatches in America and Europe. In 1926 the Swiss watch manufacturer Rolex patented the first waterproof and dustproof wristwatch, the Oyster.

The clockmaker Levi Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire, invented an alarm clock in 1787. His alarm clock rang at only one time: 4:00 AM. He invented his device so that he would never sleep past his usual waking time. It was his “firm rule” to awaken before sunrise, whatever the season. But sometimes he slept past that hour and was distraught the rest of the day. Although he lived to the age of 94, Hutchins never patented or manufactured his clock. He wrote about his clock: “It was the idea of a clock that could sound an alarm that was difficult, not the execution of the idea. It was simplicity itself to arrange for the bell to sound at the predetermined hour.” The French inventor Antoine Redier was the first person to patent an adjustable mechanical alarm clock, in 1847. In 1876 a small mechanical wind-up clock patented in the United States by Seth E. Thomas was the most inspirational of those invented in this era—soon all the major U.S. clockmakers were making small alarm clocks, and German clockmakers soon followed. The electric alarm clock was invented around 1890.

The initials AM stand for ante meridian, which is Latin for “before noon.” The initials PM.stand for post meridian, which is Latin for “after noon.”