[LEAPSECS] the big artillery

[Michael Deckers]

    On 2014-11-05 11:28, Steffen Nurpmeso wrote:

> Oh, the German Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) also
> has a general -- at least -- overview of the set of problems.
> (English: [1] and all around that; oops, not everything is
> translated, what a shame!  I hope it's not due to lack of
> resources, which seems to become notorious in Germany [for things
> that really matter at least].)
> ......
>    [1] <https://www.ptb.de/cms/en/fachabteilungen/abt4/fb-44/ag-441/realisation-of-the-si-second.html>
>    Rest under
>    <https://www.ptb.de/cms/en/fachabteilungen/abt4/fb-44/ag-441/realisation-of-legal-time-in-germany/>

   The very beginning of the last reference is misleading and
   wrong:

      "Properties of UTC

       The time scale UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) owes its
       existence to the CCIR (International Consultative Committee
       of Radiocommunications) of the ITU (International
       Telecommunications Union) which proposed to broadcast
       time signals worldwide in a "coordinated" way, i.e.
       by reference to a common time scale."

   The concept for UTC was devised by people from the BIH
   and some other metrology institutes, not by the CCIR;
   and the CCIR has never produced a time scale. It is
   unfortunate that most sources about time and time scales
   are full of inaccuracies and errors like these, perpetuated
   through hundreds of papers and books.

   Steve Allen's page
      [http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/timescales.html]
   gives a carefully researched, reliable account of the history
   of UTC and other time scales, based on the primary sources.
   It is the result of an enormous labor in extracting the facts
   from a mixture with myth and hearsay.

   Michael Deckers.