The story of the 'father' of time zones

More than 140 years ago, American educator Charles F. Dowd created time zones. Today, time zones govern the work and sleep schedules of most people around the world.

Charles Ferdinand Dowd (April 25, 1825 - November 12, 1904) in Madison, Connecticut (USA). According to the Madison Historical Society, Dowd was a teacher by profession. He was a student at the prestigious Yale University and devoted his whole life to education.

Mr. Charles Ferdinand Dowd. (Photo: Foxnews).

He and his wife, Harriet, founded Temple Grove Seminary in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1868 and operated it for more than 30 years.

Dowd's original idea of ​​time zones in 1869 involved train schedules in an era when time was measured locally by the Sun. In the early 1800s, the Sun served as the official 'clock' in America and time was calculated based on noon in each city or the time the Sun was at its highest.

"This method results in the creation of more than 300 time zones across the United States. Not to mention the difference in local time depending on location ," Union Pacific railway company shared. The rapid development of railroads revealed the vastness of the North American continent, while also revealing the limitations of solar time even over short distances.

Union Pacific train in California in 1964. (Photo: Getty Images).

This led to chaos in planning for the ever-expanding railway system. Most notable was the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869.

Mr. Dowd's initiative turned natural solar time into human-determined standard time. The Indianapolis Sentinel commented at the time: 'The Sun no longer manages affairs.'

Dowd's plan centered around four time zones, at the 75th, 90th, 105th, and 120th meridians. He used the 75th meridian, which runs through the state of New York, as the basis for his Eastern Standard Time. He then fixed three transnational meridians: Central Standard (90); Mountain standards (105); Pacific Standard (120). Each zone's time is set one hour apart.

Mr. Dowd issued a pamphlet titled "National Time System for Railroads" in 1870. He then found an influential supporter in railroad engineer William F. Allen.

The time came on November 18, 1883. According to the Historical Society, Allen was present at the Western Union Telegraph System building in New York City to witness the implementation of the plan. The clocks were restarted and Eastern Standard Time was born. Allen convinced railroad officials to accept this time zone.

The time system pioneered by the railroad did not become federal law until the Standard Time Act was passed in the United States on March 19, 1918.

Central Station in Manhattan, New York opened in 1913, three decades after the American railroad industry adopted time zones. (Photo: Foxnews).

After the time zone project, Dowd earned his doctorate from the City University of New York in 1888. That same year, he was made a fellow of the London Society of Arts, Letters and Sciences. At his class reunion at Yale, he was called 'father of time', and was recognized as Yale's most outstanding graduate for an invention that had an international impact.

Dowd died under the wheels of a locomotive in Saratoga Springs at approximately 5:30 p.m. on November 12, 1904. At that time, he was 79 years old.

More than a dozen countries have agreed to adopt a unified time zone, built on Dowd's model as early as 1884.