Entomologist George Vernon Hudson was actually the first to suggest modern DST. In 1895 the New Zealander presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society proposing a two-hour daylight shift. Hudson recommended altering the time of the clock at the equinoxes to bring the working-hours of the day within the period of daylight, there by utilizing the early morning and reducing the excessive use of artificial light. Hudson`s paper coincided with a similar application that was offered by prominent English builder and outdoorsman William Willett. In 1905 Willett independently conceived DST when one morning he noticed how many Londoners slept through a large part of a summer`s day. There was an ulterior motive in Willett`s case though, as an avid golfer he disliked having to cut his round short at dusk!
Both of these proposals were brought in front of their respective government officials, but these bills did not become law and neither did the many others that were proposed in the following decade. Willett continued lobbying for his proposal in the UK till his death in 1915. It wasn`t until Germany and its WWI allies in April of 1916 realized the efficacy of DST that it was finally put into practice. The Germans initially began using DST as a way of conserving coal during wartime. Britain, along with most of its allies and most of the European neutral nations at the time, soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries began using DST in 1917 and the United States adopted the practice in 1918.
Since then there have been enactments and appeals worldwide, sanctions and then retractions of the practice. For instance it wasn`t till 2006 that the US state Indiana implemented DST; and two other states --Arizona and Hawaii--still don`t observe DST. In 2005 the Republic of Kazakhstan eliminated DST citing negative health effects on 51.6% of the country`s population. A U.S. law implemented by President George W. Bush in the same year, extended Daylight Saving Time by four weeks.
Even though the initial idea was to save fuel, the effect of DST on energy use has changed over time and from place to place. There is still a debate amongst experts as to whether it actually does save energy, but so many people hold to the tradition and old habits are the hardest to break.
