Sir Sandford Fleming

Father of Standard Time

W5HWho: Sir Sandford Fleming

What: Invented Standard Time - the system of time all people on Earth use today.

Where: International Prime Meridian Conference - a conference where scientists and mathematicians from around the world get together to discuss and try to solve scientific and mathematical problems. Fleming proposed his idea at this conference.

When: On January 1, 1885 countries all over the world began using Standard Time.

Why: Fleming worked for the train company. He noticed that it was very difficult to create a schedule for the train because each community had it's own time.

For example, it could be 12:00 in Edmonton and 12:20 in Calgary and 11:55 in Grande Prairie all at the same time. He said that a "Standard Time" was needed to make things more efficient.

How: He used a world map and split the world into 24 Time Zones (based on a 24hr day). Each zone is exactly one hour different than the one before and after it. He presented this idea at a very important scientific conference and it was accepted.

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This is the map Fleming used to create the time zones. It is still used to this day.

Before Standard Time people had to carry watches like these with several different times on them.

Fleming's creation of Standard Time would make Canada the first country to use a common clock instead of allowing communities to choose their own times. Soon after the world would adopt his method of keeping time.

Standard Time made it much easier for Canadians to plan events and travelling arrangements.

Importance to Canadian History

Any time someone has to check a flight schedule, train schedule, or bus schedule, you can thank Sir Sandford Fleming.

When a television show starts at 5:00, it starts at 5:00 no matter where you are, thanks to Sir Fleming's Standard Time.

You can easily figure out what time it is anywhere in the world because of ... you guessed it... Standard Time.

Standard Time helped the entire world organize itself so that we could travel, trade, sell, and communicate more efficiently.

The whole world depends on Standard Time and it was invented by a Canadian right here in Canada.

Importance for Canadians Today

Sir Sandford Flemming

Other Interesting Facts

This is the spot where the last spike was driven in the railway that was built to connect Canada from coast to coast. Sir Sandford Flemming was there to oversee this historic event because he was the man in charge of planning where the tracks would go.

One of the ways Canadians honor their heros past and present is by putting their image on a collector's stamp or coin.

Fleming actually designed Canada's very first postage stamp so Canada Post paid him tribute by creating a collector's stamp with his image.

This is the stamp Fleming designed.

Other Interesting Facts