Daylight Saving Time — A Brief History

Set your clocks ahead one hour Saturday night. 

I hate losing an hour of sleep, but if it means spring is around the corner, I'm all for it.

Ever wonder what the history of Daylight Saving Time is (and yes, it's saving, not savings)?

Benjamin Franklin first suggested Daylight Saving Time in 1784, but modern DST was not proposed until 1895 when an entomologist (a what?) from New Zealand, George Vernon Hudson, presented a proposal for a two-hour daylight saving shift to the Wellington Philosophical Society.

The conception of DST was mainly credited to an English builder, William Willett in 1905, when he presented the idea to advance the clock during the summer months. His proposal was published two years later and introduced to the House of Commons in February 1908. The first Daylight Saving Bill was examined by a select committee but was never made into a law. It was not until World War I, in 1916, that DST was adopted and implemented by several countries in Europe who initially rejected the idea.

On August 8, 2005 President Bush signed into law a broad energy bill (Energy Policy Act of 2005) that extended Daylight Saving Time by four weeks beginning in 2007. The provisions of the bill called for Daylight Saving Time to begin three weeks earlier on the second Sunday in March and end one week later on the first Sunday in November. Previously, Daylight Saving Time started on the first Sunday in April and ended on the last Sunday in October. The provisions took effect on March 11, 2007.

In short, don't forget to change your clocks!