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Oct. 13, 1884: Greenwich Resolves Subprime Longitude Crisis

1884: Geographers and astronomers adopt Greenwich as the Prime Meridian, the international standard for zero degrees longitude. The late 19th century was an era of standardization. With the Second Industrial Revolution stimulating world trade, the Treaty of the Meter established the International System of weights and measures in 1875. With railroads linking together entire continents, nations were replacing hundreds (or even thousands) of diverging local times with a system of hour-wide time zones. (The United States adopted its zones in 1883.) Amid all this, navigation at sea -- and the charting of stars in the heavens -- often remained a matter of local, national or even religious preference. Maps might be based on longitude east or west of Jerusalem, Saint Petersburg, Rome, Pisa, Copenhagen (think Tycho Brahe), Oslo, Paris, Greenwich (just east of central London), El Hierro (in the Canary Islands), Philadelphia (former U.S. capital) and Washington, D.C. These divergent reference meridians -- representing a mixture of astronomical, theological and maritime power -- ranged over 112 degrees of longitude. You could do the math, but that meant you did the math. These were the days before computers and even the bulkiest of mechanical calculators. Got abacus? Many state boundaries in the U.S. West were determined by the Washington Meridian, which then ran through the Old Naval Observatory in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood. But an 1850 law established its use... Wired.com

Introducing our European 2008 Anita Borg Scholars

Posted by Beate List, University Programme, ZurichA few months ago we had the great pleasure of announcing the fifth class of Anita Borg Scholars in the U.S. and our first class of Scholars in Canada. Now it's the Europeans' turn.This scholarship program, originally established in the U.S. to honor the work of Anita Borg and to recognize outstanding young women scholars in computer science and related fields, expanded to Europe most recently. Nearly 300 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 31 countries applied for the award. Sixty-three finalists were selected; 20 women received a ?5,000 scholarship for the 2008-2009 academic year. The remaining 43 finalists received a ?1,000 award.Each of the finalists visited our Engineering Centre in Zurich for our annual Scholars' Retreat, which included tech talks, career panels and social fun. All of it was a way for the young women to share experiences and come together as leaders in the computer science field.Visit the Google Europe Anita Borg Scholarship page for more on the program. Hearty congratulations to these winners!The 2008 Europe Anita Borg ScholarsCynthia Liem, Delft University of Technology, The NetherlandsDespina Michael - University of Cyprus, CyprusDina Petri - University of Reading, UK; Aristotle University, Greece; Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, SpainInbal Talgam -Weizmann Institute of Science, IsraelKaty Howland - University of Sussex, UKKerstin Wendt - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, SpainKsenia Rogova - Petrozavodsk State University, RussiaMirela Ben-Chen - Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, IsraelNadezhda Baldina - Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology, RussiaOlga Boronenko - University of Reading, UK; Aristotle University, Greece; Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, SpainPatricia Moore - Dublin City University, IrelandRebecca Stewart - Queen Mary, University of London, UKSara Elisabeth Adams - University of Oxford, UKSeda Gürses - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BelgiumSilvia Breu - University of Cambridge, UKSiska Fitrianie - Delft University of Technology, The NetherlandsStefanie Jegelka - Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, GermanySvetlana Obraztsova - Steklov Institute of Mathematics, RussiaSylvia Rueda - University of Nottingham, UKUlyana Tikhonova - Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University, RussiaUpdate: Added photo.