Is time up for GMT?

Fifty scientists from all over the world held a closed session under the patronage of the British science academy known as “The Royal Society” to discuss the possibility of a new universal coordinated time, which could eventually mean that GMT will be a thing of the past.    

According to the Sunday Times magazine, the UK risks losing GMT that has been for the past 120 years a symbol for Britain’s prominent role during the Victorian Era.  

GMT, named after the longitude line that passes through the city of Greenwich in London, was adopted as a universal time tool in an 1884 conference held in Washington.The new time definition will abandon the “solar” timing that is based on the rotation of the Earth embraced by astronomers for more than 200 years.    

During an international conference held in 1972, the Universal Coordinated Time was adopted. This means is calculated in 70 international laboratories using 400 atomic clocks based on the resonant frequency of the cesium atom that monitors time.       

The atomic time differs in a fraction of a second from the time set according to the rotation of the Earth, making it more accurate. Scientists are suggesting abandoning this particular second, which will in turn mean abandoning the Greenwich time system.

Next January, the proposal to abandon this “extra second” will be put to a vote by the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva. In case the proposal is adopted, 60 or 90 years down the line one minute will separate the atomic timing from the solar one and after 600 years the difference will reach one hour.