What's Up With Daylight Saving Time?

George Hudson  Image from Wikipedia

     The idea was first thought up in 1895, by a New Zealander named George Hudson.  However, it wasn't introduced nationwide anywhere until April 30, 1916 in Germany and Austria-Hungary.  It was done in order to maximize the use of daylight for activities.  Some think that it saves energy because we don't have to turn on the lights as early, but that's never been proven.

       Basically, people who worked 9-5 jobs wanted to have more daylight when their work day was over.  You know, to do more work at home or enjoy the outdoors.  Benjamin Franklin wrote, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."  George Hudson liked to collect insects and wanted to have time to 'hunt' when he got off from work, and others wanted time to hunt for food.  Hudson actually wanted to shift the time by two hours, and he purposed it to the Wellington Philosophical Society twice - in 1895 and 1898.  Apparently it didn't take because most people credit William Willett with the concept.

William Willett  Image from Wikipedia

     He didn't steal the idea from Hudson, he just thought it up on his own in 1905.  He was apparently an early-bird and was astonished at how much of the summer day people spent sleeping.  He also enjoyed golf and was annoyed when he had to cut his game short because he could no longer see the ball.  Unlike George Hudson, William Willett got someone to take him seriously.  He had friends in high places, so to speak.  Robert Pearce was a member of parliament and introduced a bill to the House of Commons on February 12, 1908.  It didn't pass and neither did several more over the years.  Willett kept trying, but died in 1915 - before it came to pass. 
     On April 30, 1916 the German Empire decided to try it out.  It was wartime and they wanted to conserve as much coal as possible.  After that other countries in Europe decided it was a good idea and started doing it too.  Russia  joined in 1917, with the US finally giving it a go in 1918.  After the war it was mostly abandoned, until WWII.  Then it was again, abandoned. 

     The 1970's oil was harder to come by because of the Iranian Revolution and the Yom Kippur War, aka the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.  Basically it meant that oil prices were really high because less petroleum was being acquired and shipped out of the middle east.  Prices also went up dramatically because people were worried they'd run out altogether.  So, DST was again put to use in order to conserve time and energy.  This time the idea stuck for good and most countries still use some variation based on their needs.