|
Lisa Krause
The National Geographic Society
 |
| 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.
”
|
