[tz] [PATCH 3/3] * europe (Europe/Vaduz): Now a link to Europe/Zurich.

[Paul Eggert]

Alois Treindl wrote:>

> All Swiss timezone history sources in astrology books and data
> collections maintain that all of Switzerland was legally on Berne
> time, starting 1851, until the introduction of CET on 1 June 1894.

That disagrees with Shanks and with the tz data, but I
suppose we should trust Swiss astrology books over Shanks
for Swiss data.  Is there a specific astrology-book source
for that?  Also, exactly when in 1851 was the transition?
And what exactly was Berne time's offset from GMT?
(Shanks gives two values, which disagree!)

Do these Swiss astrology books give sources?  For example,
if there was an 1851 Swiss federal law, what law was it?

Given the information I've seen already, I think it unlikely
that all of Switzerland (save Geneva) switched at the same
time.  I think it more likely that the Neuchatel Observatory
established a standard (perhaps with some legal backing) and
that various localities adopted the standard one by one.

> There may be anecdotal evidence that some church clocks handled
> it differently

There sure is.  Here's another.  On May 15, 1905, Albert Einstein
moved to the edge of Bern's unified time zone.  A neighboring
clock tower in Muri kept a different time -- thus helping inspire
Einstein to the special theory of relativity.

Yes, this is just anecdotal evidence and yes, this was
after 1894 so the Muri clock was likely nonstandard, but the
point is that circa-1900 civil Swiss timekeeping was not as
uniform as modern observers might naively imagine.  And the Swiss
were the best timekeepers of the day....

> My source at hand: Gabriel, Traite de l'heure dans le monde, edition 1991.

Ah, so Gabriel agrees with Shanks for Vaduz.  Does Gabriel give
sources?  If Gabriel was compiled the same way that Shanks was and
doesn't give sources, then I'm afraid I wouldn't trust Gabriel
much either, as most likely Gabriel is just guessing too.  But
if there are sources that would be another matter.

My source for Einstein:

Galison P.  Einstein's clocks: the place of time.
Critical Inquiry 2000;26(2:)355-89
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1344127