daylight saving time adds extra hours of
daylight during the summer season while
making the day is shorter during the
winter months but who came up with the
concept of daylight saving time and how
does it work the concept of shifting our
clocks to adjust the length of the day
can be traced back to over 100 years ago
in 1895 New Zealand entomologist George
Hudson made the earliest known proposal
for a time shift submitted to the
Wellington philosophical society the
idea was well-received but it didn't
catch on in 1905 British builder William
Willett developed a similar idea
independently of Hudson he lobbied the
British Parliament year after year to no
avail until his death in 1915 the issue
was revisited time and again throughout
the world but it wasn't officially put
into practice nationwide until the early
20th century in Germany the Germans in
the throes of World War one we're
looking for ways to conserve energy they
decided that more daylight was the
answer and became the first country to
enact the daylight saving time today
about 70 countries around the world
practise daylight saving time clocks in
the northern hemisphere are usually set
ahead by one hour toward the end of
March or early April in late September
or early October they're set back one
hour
in the southern hemisphere the reverse
occurs while many countries originally
adopted daylight saving time to extend
daylight hours and cut down on the need
for artificial light critics today say
it no longer saves energy in fact an
estimated 80 percent of the global
population does not use daylight saving
time some countries are divided about
its use in Australia three out of eight
states and territories do not practice
daylight saving time in the United
States Hawaii and most of Arizona do not
bother with daylight saving time and
some states are considering doing away
with it
there are also apparent health and
safety issues that come into play the
shift to and from daylight saving time
has been linked to an increased risk in
heart attacks and automobile fatalities
there's no shortage of opinion when it
comes to daylight saving time and
whether the world will agree on how to
manage our clocks is yet to be seen
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