-
What was Sandford Fleming's nationality?
He was Scottish and Canadian. -
Who is he recognized as?
Sandford Fleming was a Canadian-Scottish engineer, railway surveyor, and an inventor who invented standard time. -
When and where was he born?
He was born on January 7, 1827, in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland to Andrew Greig Fleming and Elizabeth Arnot. -
Where was he educated?
He was educated in Kennoway and Kirkcaldy by the Scottish engineer and surveyor, John Sang, at the age of 14. -
When did he immigrate to Canada?
He immigrated to Canada in 1845, along with his brother John Arnot Fleming. -
Where was he employed in Canada?
He was employed by a surveyor, Richard Birdsall and contracted to become a certified surveyor in Canada, from John Stoughton Dennis's assistance (in Weston which now is Toronto). Fleming worked as an assistant engineer with the guy, Cumberland. Their project was building an Ontario, Simcoe, and Huron Union Rail-road from Toronto to Georgian Bay. -
Why did he become an engineer?
- had a large quantity of productivity for inventing new inventions
- prepared maps of Peterborough, Cobourg, Hamilton, and Toronto to finish his certificate in engineering
- wanted things to process faster (ex: mailing something at the post office)
-
Period: to
How did he become an engineer?
He finished his certificate for engineering by drawing out the maps of Toronto, Peterborough, Hamilton, and Cobourg in 1849. He found out the Royal Canadian Institute in Toronto that was a society of architects, surveyors, and engineers, in 1849. Then he was appointed to engineer-in-chief for Ontario Northern Railway, in 1857. After proposing the route linking Upper and Lower Canada, he became a chief engineer. -
How did his contributions affect peoples' lives?
The stamp of Canada made the process for mailing mail at the post office easier since before the stamp was invented, the cost of postage needed to be calculated for a letter and took a long time. -
Period: to
What were his contributions?
- standard time
- the three-penny beaver he designed in 1851
- built a plan for the Pacific Railway in 1862
- promoted a trans-Canada telegraph with a water cable that would link Canada and Pacific in 1879
- established a Presbyterian institution with engineering programmes and science
- he was a chancellor of Queen's College in Kingston, ON in 1879
-
Why did the Canadian Government appoint Fleming?
They appointed him to conduct a survey for routing Quebec City to Halifax and creating a railway that would lead through the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. -
Period: to
How did the system of standard time develop?
- Fleming created the plan for the worldwide time in the late 1870s
- 27 countries (Canada and USA) met in Washington, D.C., and agreed to create this system in 1884
- created the system to end the confusion for having different solar times in each community
- railway transportation was why the system was created due to schedules using different times in separate communities
- divided into 24 time zones
-
Who invented the idea of time zones?
The first person who proposed time zones was a mathematician named Quirico Filopanti. However, his idea didn't influence others in the 19th century. Sandford Fleming was when he invented the worldwide time zones in 1879 and the 24-hour clock. -
How did his Contributions affect peoples' lives?
The system of standard time made the timetables for railway and trains precise. (ex: train to England is at 6:00 pm sharp on Wednesday at Standard Eastern Time) -
When did Sandford Fleming die?
He died on July 22, 1915, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada due to pneumonia. -
Why is he the 'Greatest Canadian'?
He is the greatest Canadian because, without his contributions, such as standard time, we wouldn't have different time zones and be unable to calculate time in different places. (Ex: Canada and India have a difference of 9 hours and 30 minutes.)