Google doodle pays tribute to Sandford Fleming, who standardized time zones

Google doodle pays tribute to Sandford Fleming, who standardized time zones

California,Jan 7:Google doodle is dedicated to Sandford Fleming, the Scottish Canadian inventor who proposed the worldwide standard time as we know today at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute way back in 1879. January 7 marks Fleming’s 190th birth anniversary.

The doodle, designed by Sophie Diao, has a steam engine alongside different clocks showing different time zones and a postage stamp featuring Fleming. You might wonder why the doodle has featured a train and a stamp. That’s because Fleming had designed Canada’s first postage stamp and helped build the InterContinental Railway.

Google says before the invention of the standard time zones, regions had used solar time to set their own clocks. But when trains came along travelling from one country to the other, the system had to be altered. Fleming was in favour of dividing the world into 24 time zones beginning at the Greenwich Meridian and spaced at 15 degree intervals. He wanted a single 24-hour clock that could eliminate the troubles of different time zones. Fleming’s much popular and accurate system of international standard time was formally adopted at the International Prime Meridian Conference in 1884.

Fleming’s contributions in building the Canadian Pacific Railway remains etched in history. He is also known for creating the Royal Canadian Institute in 1849 which went on to become a scientific society.