William Willett

William Willett (* August 10, 1856, † March 4, 1915 ) is considered the inventor of the summer time.

Biography

Willett was born in the small English town of Farnham, and spent most of his life in Chislehurst. After gaining some business experience, he worked in his father's construction company.

The idea for the summer time came Willett allegedly in an early morning ride, as he noticed that all the houses on the shutters were still closed. At his own expense Willett was in 1907 a pamphlet entitled The Waste of Daylight out. In this he suggested that the clocks should be presented in summer by 80 minutes to save by late evening brightness 2.5 million pounds of lighting costs. After Willetts idea the clock should be reset on four consecutive Sundays in April by 20 minutes before and the same way back in September.

Despite lobbying - so Willett won the encouragement of Winston Churchill - the summertime in the United Kingdom could not initially enforce. Willett died in 1915 of influenza before 1916, DST was first introduced in Germany and a little later in the UK.

Before Willett Benjamin Franklin mentioned already in 1784 the idea of adapting the circadian rhythm of the hours of daylight. Unlike Willett Franklin suggested, however, merely states that people should get up earlier in the summer.

Willet is the great-great -grandfather of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.