On 2003-07-09, Joseph S. Myers wrote on "universal day":
> It already appears in the *title* of the conference, which was held "for
> the purpose of fixing a prime meridian and a universal day"............
It appears in the title of the proceedings of the conference, as quoted
by [Howse 1997]. The call for the conference, however, apparently did
not contain a reference to "universal day" -- see the National Archives
[
http://www.archives.gov/research_room/federal_records_guide
/international_conferences_commissions_and_rg043.html#43.2.4]
and the State of the Union address
[
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/site/docs/doc_sou.php?admin=21&doc=2]
> ............................................................ So you'll
> need to look at the history leading up to that conference for why a
> "universal day" was so termed.
Right. The technical issues to be decided by the IMC had indeed been
considered in depth by scientists and engineers in previous
meetings. Specifically, "universal time" and "Universal Day" had
been proposed (in the sense of UT - 12 h) by the 7th International
Geodesic Conference in Rome in 1883 (after the IMC had been scheduled).
[Howse 1997] Derek Howse: "Greenwich Time and the Longitude".
Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-86667-468-0.
1997 London.
HTH
Michael Deckers
Received on Thu Jul 10 2003 - 02:32:32 PDT