In the spirit of Dava Sobel’s Longitude, Clark Blaise takes an
unsung scientific hero of the past and charts his triumph against adversity. Sir
Sandford Fleming was the man who—against the better judgement of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science—persuaded us to abandon
local times and link up to a global system of time zones. A civil engineer and
scientist, he built the railway linking Atlantic to Pacific across Canada. He
also designed Canada’s first postage stamp. Time Lord is published by
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, £14.99, ISBN 029784136X.
To continue reading, today with our introductory offers
Advertisement
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles
1
The world's fastest spider tops 3.5 metres per second
2
A type of fibre that stimulates GLP-1 release approved for use in food
3
Babies are born with the neural foundations for maths
4
The weirdness of neutrinos could completely rewrite particle physics
5
Where, when and how to watch the 2026 solar eclipse
6
The best new science-fiction novels published in July 2026
7
Have scientists really made a living cell from scratch? Not quite
8
We’re not the most successful human species
9
New Scientist recommends an unsettling deep dive into forensic science
10
The 4 must-watch science-fiction films of the year so far



