# Who came up with Daylight Saving Time?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 31, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756 "2005-10-31T18:12:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/1 "2005-10-31T18:12:16Z")
Millions,
Twice yearly, when the time of day jumps ahead an hour or falls back sixty minutes, I get to thinking: who exactly was the guy who came up with this plan? It’s seriously genius. What kind of brain decides that, to solve the energy & resource crisis, the best move is to just…readjust standardized time? If you know who came up with this, can you let me know what ELSE he/she did? I’m in awe every year.
As a postscript, was daylight savings time voted in by congress? By presidential decree? Just to round out the overall issue here…
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/2 "2005-10-31T18:35:04Z")
> [@Birdmonster](#):
>
> It’s seriously genius. What kind of brain decides that, to solve the energy & resource crisis, the best move is to just…readjust standardized time? If you know who came up with this, can you let me know what ELSE he/she did? I’m in awe every year.
[Benjamin Franklin](http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin3.html). He was joking, though.
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### Author:  [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/3 "2005-10-31T18:36:54Z")
Not neccessarily true. I believe the book is called The Great Improvisation, a recent biography of Franklin’s year in France. In it, it is claimed that someone else came up with the idea and it was falsely attributed to Franklin. Sorry, I don’t have the book anymore, can’t cite.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/4 "2005-10-31T18:46:25Z")
**Birdmonster**. I just corrected your thread title to **Saving Time** instead of **Savings**. I figure this will save 29 posts by members correcting you. 🙂
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### Author:  [@jsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsmith)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/5 "2005-10-31T18:47:59Z")
Who came up with it is in question, however, here in America it has been taught in schools the Benjamin Franklin came up with the idea.
The first country to use DST was Germany during WWI.
U.S. Congress voted on and approved the usage of DST (at least temporarily) during WWI, around 1918 I believe, as a cost savings measure.
Since then both Congress and the President have made changes to DST.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/6 "2005-10-31T19:04:49Z")
Franklin was either joking, or just kicking an idea around semiseriously. You might actually credit William Willet with the invention. Willet was an English builder who wrote a pamphlet called “The Waste of Daylight” in 1907, and lobbied hard to get his scheme adopted. Nevertheless, it was Germany, rather than the UK that first adopted a form of the idea.
Be glad we didn’t adopt Willet’s original suggestion. He wanted to advance the clocks by 80 minutes in 20 minute increments over 4 weeks in April, and decrement them again over 4 weeks in September:
> **[William Willett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Willett)**
>
> William Willett (10 August 1856 – 4 March 1915) was a British builder and a promoter of British Summer Time.
> Willett was born in Farnham, Surrey, and educated at the Philological School. After some commercial experience, he entered his father's building business, Willett Building Services. Between them they created a reputation for "Willett built" quality houses in choice parts of London and the south, including Chelsea and Hove, including Derwent House. He lived most of his life in Chislehur...
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### Author:  [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/7 "2005-10-31T20:40:21Z")
The 1918 act that provided for DST, was the first time congress had set standard time zones as well. Standard time was common at that time, particularly with the railroads, thanks to Canadian railroadman Sir Sandford Fleming who had promoted the idea in the industry in the 1870s.
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### Author:  [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/8 "2005-10-31T20:49:15Z")
> [@samclem](#):
>
> **Birdmonster**. I just corrected your thread title to **Saving Time** instead of **Savings**. I figure this will save 29 posts by members correcting you. 🙂
Thanks. It’s all about learning, you know.
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### Author:  [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/9 "2005-10-31T21:01:58Z")
And just in case that last post came off as snippy, it wasn’t supposed to. Emoticons & I have a tumultuous relationship. I’m still curious as to who it was that our esteemed Mr. Franklin borrowed this idea from, and if that biography has any concrete evidence supporting it’s claim.
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### Author:  [@CanTak3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanTak3)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/10 "2005-11-01T02:30:10Z")
Although he never says who invented it (sorry OP), the master has [written](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_052.html) about DST before.
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/11 "2005-11-01T12:31:38Z")
And just to clarify matters; what we are using NOW is the standard time; the “unadulterated” time.
I had a boss who was adamant that the “norm” was what went on during the summer.
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### Author:  [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/12 "2005-11-01T13:42:26Z")
> [@yabob](#):
>
> Be glad we didn’t adopt Willet’s original suggestion. He wanted to advance the clocks by 80 minutes in 20 minute increments over 4 weeks in April, and decrement them again over 4 weeks in September:
>
> [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William\_Willett](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Willett)
During WWII Britain went on what was called “double summer time” with the clocks advanced two hours.
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### Author:  [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/13 "2005-11-01T13:50:43Z")
And according to Wikipedia, the British have almost as much of a[struggle with their time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Summer_Time) as we do with ours.
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### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/14 "2005-11-01T14:46:38Z")
Actually, I have it on good authority that the original concept for Daylight Saving Time was taken from an ancient Indian chief who cut one end off of his blanket and sewed it on the other end to make it longer. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/15 "2005-11-01T16:37:39Z")
It all gets confusing when you try to figure out it if it has any correlation to energy savings.
All I know is that without daylight saving time, there’d be less daylight after work to make home repairs, take a walk, get the kids to softball or soccer games, etc.
Just about everyone I know cringes when we ‘fall back’ to standard time. Standard Time is really an issue because most of the American workforce wraps up their day around 5pm, and commutes home by 6. During Daylight Saving Time, we all get a little more evening light. That’s all good to me.
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/16 "2005-11-01T16:42:45Z")
[This](http://www.seizethedaylight.com/) book seems like it might have some answers for you.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/17 "2005-11-01T17:45:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I had a boss who was adamant that the “norm” was what went on during the summer.
He’s correct. Over half of the year is spent on the summer-type time, which makes it the “norm”.
What I can’t understand is why, if it’s desireable to have the work day biased more towards dawn rather than dusk, we don’t just make the standard workday 8-4 instead of 9-5. That standard must have started somehow, and for some reason…
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### Author:  [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/18 "2005-11-01T18:00:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> What I can’t understand is why, if it’s desireable to have the work day biased more towards dawn rather than dusk, we don’t just make the standard workday 8-4 instead of 9-5.
I would argue that it is way easier for a single entity (da gub’mint) to mandate a change than it would be for all people to ask their employers to change their schedule. At this point, the “time” (8:00 vs 7:00) that businesses have picked to start to open, etc, has more … cultural momentum… than does the “insolation” (dawn/dusk). I also think that we are moving towards removing the “standard” times. More people are happier with more time at the end of the day.
My major question over in [GD](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=342404) was why not get it over with and just have daylight saving time year round? I mean, there are so few of us (percentage wise) who are truly linked to the diurnal light schedule these days.
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### Author:  [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/19 "2005-11-01T18:00:19Z")
I’d say it’s a lot easier to adjust the clocks than it is to adjust the “work day”.
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### Author:  [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-came-up-with-daylight-saving-time/328756/20 "2005-11-01T18:02:44Z")
My first simulpost! Yeah, what **Jayrot** said!
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