A Canadian engineer and inventor, Sanford Fleming was hailed as the ‘Father of Standard Time’ because of his invention of present time zones. This time zone system is now followed by the whole world. Fleming was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland on January 7, 1837. At 20 years of age, he migrated to Canada in 1847.
Before time zones were introduced people completely depended on the position of the sun to decide the time. But after trains were introduced, this was not an easy task because of the change in time zones. This led to the introduction of standard time. Fleming proposed these time zones, starting from Greenwich Meridian and 24 such time zones were divided into 15 degree intervals of each. This proposal was implemented by International Prime Meridian Conference on January 1, 1885. All the 25 countries present then introduced this concept.
The Google doodle today, January 7, represents the 190th birthday of the innovator. Fleming gained popularity at a very young age for being one of the Top railway engineers of his time. He was also the in charge of Canadian Pacific Railways, which was the first cross country railway system. He also was known for first postage stamp designing of Canada in 1851. The internationally renowned science center, Royal Canadian Institute was founded by him in the year 1849. In the year 1880, after retiring from Canadian Pacific Railways he was appointed as the chancellor of Queen’s University of Ontario. In 1897, Fleming for his accomplishments was knighted by Queen Victoria.
Sanford left a legacy for the world to follow after he passed away by the introduction of International Standard Time!
