Updated

2022-03-15T20: 25: 13Z

Arizona desert sunset

Sunset over the Arizona desert

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The idea for daylight-saving time is attributed to thinkers including Benjamin Franklin, scientist George Hudson, and a British man named William Willett, who published a pamphlet in 1907 titled “The Waste of Daylight,” which argued for an extra 80 minutes of sunlight in the summer.

William Willett

William Willett.

Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images


Source: The History Channel

While Britain didn’t act on Willett’s proposal at the time, Germany implemented daylight-saving time during World War I as a way to conserve electricity by maximizing sunlight.

world war one 1 wwi

“At close grips with the Hun, we bomb the corkshaffer’s, etc.” Two United States soldiers run past the remains of two German soldiers toward a bunker. Note that this may well be a staged propaganda image.


H. D. Girdwood via Library of Congress



Source: The History Channel