Marking Time : The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar

by Duncan Steel

• ISBN13: 9780471404217
• ISBN10: 0471404217
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

For the new millennium, a timely history of time For all the talk of the millennium, one would think the calendar was an established fact of science, as irrefutable as the atomic weight of hydrogen. But as this book points out, the calendar is an evolving invention of our struggle to measure time. Marking Time reveals the surprising story of how the modern-day calendar came about and how it has changed dramatically through the years. From the definition of the lunar month by Meton of Athens in 432 B.C. to the roles played by Julius Caesar, William the Conqueror, and Isaac Newton to present-day proposals to reform our calendar, this fascinating read also features "timely" tidbits. For example, New Year's wasn't always celebrated on January 1_the ball has also dropped on March 1, March 25, September 1, and December 25. And the year 2000 A.D. almost certainly has already happened, as the birth of Christ most likely occurred five years earlier than the current calendar marks it. Duncan Steel (Adelaide, Australia) is the author of Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets. He is a research astronomer at the Spaceguard Australia observation project and a specialist on astronomical timekeeping.

Author Biography

DUNCAN STEEL is the author of Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets. He is a research astronomer at the Spaceguard Australia observation project and a specialist on astronomical timekeeping.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
George Washington's Birthday	1	(8)
The Country Parson's Formula	9	(12)
The Cycles of the Sky	21	(12)
Stonchenge and Sothis (Third Millennium B.C.)	33	(12)
Meton (432 B.C.), Callippus (330 B.C.), and Hipparchus (130 B.C.)	45	(6)
Julius Caesar (46 B.C.)	51	(22)
Constantine the Great (A.D. 321)	73	(20)
Dionysius Exiguus (A.D. 525)	93	(24)
The Synod of Whitby (A.D. 664)	117	(12)
The Venerable Bede (A.D. 725)	129	(8)
Lady Day	137	(6)
Retrospective Dating	143	(14)
Pope Gregory XIII (A.D. 1582)	157	(26)
The Perfect Christian Calendar and God's Longitude	183	(28)
Archbishop Ussher and the Age of the Earth (A.D. 1650)	211	(22)
Lord Chesterfield's Act (A.D. 1751)	233	(18)
Poor Richard's Almanack	251	(8)
President Arthur Requests (A.D. 1884)	259	(24)
Marching to the Same Drummer?	283	(22)
Calendar Reform	305	(18)
The Comet of Bethlehem	323	(20)
How Many Days in a Dinosaur Year?	343	(14)
Should 2100 Be a Double Leap Year?	357	(6)
Epilogue	363	(2)
Appendix A How Long Is a Day?	365	(12)
Appendix B How Long Is a Year?	377	(8)
Appendix C How Long Is a Second?	385	(6)
Appendix D How Long Is a Month?	391	(8)
Selected Bibliography	399	(2)
Index	401