The Day of Two Noons, a fascinating exploration of the division of the earth into 24 different time zones, will be virtually presented from 6-7:30 pm Thursday, April 24. Tim Orr, the 1st Vice President of Denver’s Chapter 21 of the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors, will explain how all the clocks in the United States were reset at a single time on a single day, resulting in the paradox called The Day of Two Noons.
“Before the coming of railroads and even faster transportation, local time as determined by the sun was plenty accurate for almost everyone’s needs,” said Orr. “But when we started traveling at high speeds, the ‘local time’ at the starting point could be very different from the ‘local time’ at the destination. The railroads especially had a terrible problem. Scientists solved the issue by dividing the earth into 24 different time zones. But you had to convert from the old system of local time to the new one of zone time. The railroad system decided to reset all its clocks on a single day – at a single time. The result was simplified time everywhere, but on the day of the reset, some locations had two noons.”
Tickets to the presentation are $10 per Zoom registration, and reservations are required by 5 pm Tuesday, April 22. Registrants will receive the Zoom link the day before the program.
