When the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582, it involved a rule for determining when certain leap days of the Julian Calendar should be skipped. The astronomical and calendrical use of 0, however, began in the very first days of modern science. Astronomers and chronologists do their calculations with Arabic numerals, which contain the number zero. Perusing the Astronomical Almanac for the year 1997, one finds days like "January 0." This is not surprising. Calculations by astronomers and chronologists conveniently use zeros for years, months, and days. The bald statement by "2001" partisans that "there is no year zero" is now, as a matter of usage, simply false. When a calendar or a reckoning "begins" thus usually says nothing about whether a calendar might be reckoned from a year 1 or a year 0. Even the calendar of the French Revolution was introduced in October 1793, a year and a month after the beginning of its own year "1" (September 1792), which was identified retrospectively - and the calendar soon enough ceased to be used ( Napoleon abolished it in year 12, or 1804, when he crowned himself Emperor). The Julian Calendar began in 46 BC, the Gregorian Calendar began in 1582 AD, and the "AD" numbering of the years was proposed, although not extensively used until later, by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th Century AD. If the question is about when the calendar really "begins," then of course the truth is that the calendar did not begin either in 1 AD or 0 AD. People who think in these terms I will call "Cardinalists". That makes the calendar begin with the year 0 AD, not with the year 1 AD. January 1, 1 AD, would mean that 1 year has elapsed since the Benchmark. On the other hand, if 1997 years have elapsed since a Benchmark, then the Benchmark was January 1, 0 AD.
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If it is the 1997th year of the Era, then the Era began on January 1st, 1 AD. When we say that it is the year 1997 of the "Annô Domini" or "Common" Era, does this mean that it is the 1997th year of the Era ("Which one?"), or that 1997 years have elapsed ("How many?") since a Benchmark? Well, it can mean both. The number zero answers the question of cardinal numbers, "How many?" rather than the question of ordinal numbers, "Which one?" Mathematical questions are usually about cardinals rather than ordinals. The Arabs still call this system "Indian" ( Hindî) numbers, while Europeans, etc., call it "Arabic" numerals. The number zero, conceived in India, was introduced into Western mathematics by the mathematician al-Khuwârizmî (c.780-850). People who still think in these terms I will call "Ordinalists." Also, years were thought of as ordinals: the first year of a reign was thus year 1. There could be no year zero when there was no zero. However, when calendars were invented that numbered the years, whether the regal years of Egyptian Kings or a continuous count like the Seleucid Era, the number systems used did not contain the number zero. 1901), and all millennia will begin with a year 1 (e.g.
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The advocates of "2001" usually say that since a century is 100 years, a millennium is 1000 years, and the calendar began with year 1, therefore all subsequent centuries will begin with a year 1 (e.g. (For more on "two kinds of people," see " Psychological Types")
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Gould, as in his defense of the name Brontosaurus ("Bully for Brontosaurus"), displays towering good sense. I am among those who think there are two kinds of people, and that they are people who think that the new century and millennium began on January 1, 2000, and those who think that they began on January 1, 2001.Ī definitive discussion of this issue may be found in an essay of the late, great Stephen Jay Gould, "Dousing Diminutive Dennis's Debate (or DDDD=2000)," which is collected in Dinosaur in a Haystack. There are two kinds of people, those who think there are two kinds of people, and those who don't. Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay If you didn't know there was a year zero in astronomy, let me respectfully suggest you're not informed enough to tell others when to begin their centuries. MULDER: Nobody likes a math geek, Scully. SCULLY: And besides, 2001 is actually the start of the new millennium. The Century and the Millennium, the Blue Moon The Century and the Millennium