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was unified it should be based on the meridian at Greenwich. The Superintendent
of the American Almanac, Simon Newcomb, said that the unification of time was
too perfect a plan for the present state of humanity and scorned the idea that other
countries should be brought into the scheme: “We don't care for other nations; we
can't help them and they can't help us… [I see] no more reason for considering
Europe in this matter than for considering the inhabitants of the planet Mars.”
These isolationist views did not prevail. As a diplomatic matter, a conference
was called in Washington DC in 1884 by the United States to resolve the interna-
tional confusion and to establish a system of longitude and time zones around
the world. The time zones were to be established at 15 degree intervals around the
world, one for each hour of a complete rotation of the Earth, and it was necessary
to make a choice as to where the time zones would start and where longitude would
originate. The USA (and Canada) had made their choice; a system based on
Greenwich would be more convenient for the railroad owners.
THE DISCUSSION WAS dominated in Washington in 1884 by the USA, France
and Britain (Howse 1984, Harrison 1994). The American delegation was headed by
Rear-Admiral Rodgers and supported by Cleveland Abbe. France was represented by
Jules Janssen (
Fig. 35
) of the Paris Observatory, and Britain by John Couch Adams
Fig. 35
Jules Janssen painted by Jean-Jacques Menner. © Observatoire de Paris
