[LEAPSECS] ISO 8601 Z designator improper before 1972?

Poul-Henning Kamp phk at phk.freebsd.dk
Mon Feb 9 13:57:07 EST 2009


In message <625029C6E1F142B688CEBEDECDFAD8C9 at grendel>, "Gerard Ashton" writes:


>Similarly, within ISO 8601, "Z" designates "UTC" and any meaning it may

>have had for most of the 20th century outside that standard is irrelevant.


The meaning 'Z' had before ISO8601, and which ISO8601 codified, was "UTC".

If you look at the Canadian time-station CHU's QSL card:

http://flickr.com/photos/bneely/223853969/

You will notice that the timezones have letters on the illustration
on the wall. It is not clear to me if the zero meridian have 'N' or
'Z' as designator.

The painting is supposed to despict a meeting in 1879 where Sandford
Flemming first laid out his idea for timezones.

Poul-Henning

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