Benjamin Franklin came up with the concept of Daylight Saving Time as a way to reset clocks during the summer months to conserve energy, according to the book Seize The Daylight. When he was ambassador to Paris in , he made the discovery that the sun provides light as soon as it rises.
The rest of Europe woke up to the idea not too long after, and pretty soon the U. After the war ended, there was a period of a few years of letting states and municipalities decide on whether or not to establish DST. To end this free-for-all, Congress enacted the Uniform Time Act of , which stated that all states observing DST had to follow a uniform protocol that was statewide in which DST would begin in the spring and end in the late fall.
According to timeanddate. Today, daylight saving time is used in dozens of countries across the globe, but it remains a controversial practice. Most studies show that its energy savings are only negligible, and some have even found that costs are higher, since people in hot climates are more apt to use air conditioners in the daytime.
Meanwhile, Hawaii and Arizona have opted out of daylight saving altogether and remain on standard time year round. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you.
Live TV. However, the idea voiced by the American inventor and politician in can hardly be described as fundamental for the development of modern DST. After all, it did not even involve turning the clocks. What's more: Franklin meant it as a joke. Does DST really save energy? Although modern DST has only been used for about years, ancient civilizations are known to have engaged in comparable practices thousands of years ago.
For example, the Roman water clocks used different scales for different months of the year to adjust the daily schedules to the solar time. Here's a look at when daylight saving time starts and ends during the year, its history, why we have it now and some myths and interesting facts about the time change.
Historically, daylight saving time DST has begun in the summer months and ended right before winter, though the dates have changed over time as the U. Starting in , DST begins in the U. Daylight saving time then ends on the first Sunday in November , when clocks are moved back an hour at 2 a. Daylight saving time in the U. Benjamin Franklin takes the honor or the blame, depending on your view of the time changes for coming up with the idea to reset clocks in the summer months as a way to conserve energy, according to David Prerau, author of " Seize the Daylight : The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time" Thunder's Mouth Press, By moving clocks forward, people could take advantage of the extra evening daylight rather than wasting energy on lighting.
At the time, Franklin was ambassador to Paris and so wrote a witty letter to the Journal of Paris in , rejoicing over his "discovery" that the sun provides light as soon as it rises. Even so, DST didn't officially begin until more than a century later.
The rest of Europe came onboard shortly thereafter. And in , the United States adopted daylight saving time. Though President Woodrow Wilson wanted to keep daylight saving time after WWI ended, the country was mostly rural at the time and farmers objected, partly because it would mean they lost an hour of morning light. It's a myth that DST was instituted to help farmers. And so daylight saving time was abolished until the next war brought it back into vogue.
Related: 5 crazy chapters in the history of daylight saving time. After the war, a free-for-all system in which U. That federal law meant that any state observing DST — and they didn't have to jump on the DST bandwagon — had to follow a uniform protocol throughout the state in which daylight saving time would begin on the first Sunday of April and end on the last Sunday of October.
Then, in , the Energy Policy Act of went into effect, expanding the length of daylight saving time to the present timing. However, those who do observe DST take advantage of the natural daylight in the summer evenings.
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