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Sandford Fleming at the Royal Canadian Institute Meeting pitching Standard Time
8 February 1879
Greenwich, England


Credits:
Confederation Life Collection

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After missing the train in Ireland in 1876, Fleming proposed a 24-hour clock for the whole world. Not linked to any surface meridian, this was the beginning of the concept of Standard Time.

At a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute in 1879, Fleming first put forth his idea of Standard Time using Greenwich, England (the point on the globe at which longitude is defined as 0º) as the Prime Meridian for his new time zones. Slowly different states in North America started adopting this idea. In 1884, at the International Meridian Conference, many countries accepted a different version of international time but refused to use Fleming's time zones.

By 1929, all major countries had accepted the idea of time zones.

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Sir Sandford Fleming, Chancellor of Queen's University
19th Century, Circa 1890
Kingston, Ontario, Canada


Credits:
Hutchison House Museum, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

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In 1880, Fleming retired from surveying and became Chancellor of Queens University, a position that he held for 35 years, until his death in 1915.
In honor of his contributions to engineering and education several buildings at major universities and colleges are named in his honour. Examples include Fleming Hall at Queens University, which was built in his honor in 1902 and is home to the Electrical Engineering Department, and the main building of the University of Toronto Applied Science and Engineering, which is called the Sandford Fleming Building. As well, Sir Sandford Fleming College, a Community College of Applied Arts and Technology, opened in Peterborough in 1967, and has expanded to campuses in Lindsay, Haliburton and Cobourg.