Sandford Fleming

Sir Sandford Fleming was one of the most consequential nation-builders and scientific minds of 19th-century Canada. Immigrating from Scotland in 1845, he designed Canada's first adhesive postage stamp (the Three-Penny Beaver) in 1851 and rose to become Chief Engineer of the Intercolonial Railway and later the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway, personally surveying routes through Kicking Horse Pass.

After missing a train in Ireland in 1876 due to conflicting local solar timetables, Fleming proposed dividing the world into twenty-four 15-degree standard time zones with a universal 24-hour clock. His relentless advocacy culminated in the 1884 International Meridian Conference in Washington, establishing Standard Time worldwide.