Lisa Krause
The National Geographic Society
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| At the U.S. Naval Observatory, an aluminum replica of
a 19th-century time ball will descend at midnight on December
31 to ring in the start of the third millennium. |
December 29,
2000 So you didn't spend thousands of dollars on a memorable black-tie
affair to ring in the millennium a year ago? Don't worry, you
didn't blow it. The new millennium actually starts on January
1, 2001.
Though millions
of revelers around the world celebrated the once-in-a-thousand-year
event at the dawn of 2000 last January 1, the true start of the
new millennium is January 1, 2001, according to time-watchers
who know, including the official time keeper for the United States.
“There's
clearly a lot of controversy about the official start of the new
millennium, ” says Steven Dick, a historian for the U.S.
Naval Observatory, the organization that keeps the official time
for the United States. “ Some people accept it, some don't,
and some don't care. ”
The designation
of the year 2001 as the start of a new millennium is in accordance
with the Gregorian calendar, which was adopted by the Catholic
Church in the sixteenth century. The scholars who devised this
calendar designated no year for “ zero,” skipping from
1 BC directly to AD 1.
According
to this method of timekeeping, a new millennium dawned in the
year 1001, and does so again in 2001. And while many New Year's
revelers may be exhausted from last year's big celebration, the
U.S. Naval Observatory is ready for the real party.
RINGING
IN THE MILLENNIUM
For those
who want to ring in the third millennium, the U.S. Navy is opening
the doors of its Washington, D.C. observatory to as many as 3,000
merrymakers on the night of December 31.
Visitors will
have the opportunity to tour the grounds, gaze through the Observatory's
telescopes and watch a digital clock count down the final moments
of the second millennium.
At midnight, a traditional Navy time ball will drop from a mast
atop a specially constructed tower. The ball will trigger a cannon
shot, and launch a brief display of fireworks.
The fireworks
will be short, but intense, says Dick. The home of Vice President
Al Gore and his family is located on the grounds of the Naval
Observatory, and they “ don't especially like to have explosive
devices in the vicinity. ”
TIMELY
TRADITION
Long before
time balls dropped in New York's Times Square to mark the start
of a new year, the U.S. Navy was using them for the important
task of setting the time on ship's chronometers, which were used
to calculate the longitude.
The first
time ball was dropped in Portsmouth, England, in 1829. In 1840,
the U.S. Navy adopted the practice, dropping a time ball each
day at noon from a tall tower atop a building in Foggy Bottom.
Later, the time ball was moved to Washington's Old Executive Office
Building, where it continued to drop daily until 1936.
“ Before
telegraphs and radio, it was an easy way to disseminate the correct
time, ” says Dick. The time ball was visible from many parts
of the city, and especially the Potomac River, where ship captains
set their clocks by the moment of its fall.
John Quincy
Adams, the nation's sixth president, was known to stop and set
his watch by the falling time ball during his postpresidential
years as a U.S. Congressman, says Dick.
To celebrate
the year 2000, the Navy built a four-foot diameter (1.2 meter)
aluminum time ball in the tradition of its 19th-century time balls
and dropped it from a tall mast on the grounds of the Naval Observatory.
As they did
last year, this year the Observatory's scientists have coordinated
with about 20 sites in different time zones around the world to
trigger the release of time balls as the New Year, New Century,
and New Millennium dawn around the globe. GPS (Global Positioning
System) satellites will coordinate the drops.
“ It's
a neat way to tie this old Navy tradition to new technology, ”
says Dick.
The Naval
Observatory is expecting a crowd for New Year's, but Dick is reluctant
to speculate if people will be partying like they did in 1999.
“ Last
year was the result of a lot of commercial hype” says Dick.
“ You can only have the millennium once. ”
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