Nowadays it's easy to take the calendar for granted -- nations across the world have agreed that (for business purposes) each year is twelve months long. But how did we get this calendar in the first place?
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Behold…the modern Calendar. But where did it come from?
Meet Aloysius Lilius, born in Italy in approximately 1510.
Most of Aloysius' life is a mystery, but we do know he was a professor of medicine at the University of Perugia around 1552.
His manuscript on calendar reform was presented to the Vatican in 1576, the same year he passed away.
This reformed system, which came to be known as the Gregorian calendar, was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.
However, centuries before this system became the world's common civil calendar.
Calendars are an ancient invention, and most likely predate the written word.
For centuries before the Gregorian calendar was invented, much of the Western world used the Julian calendar instituted by Julius Caesar.
Unfortunately, the Julian calendar was flawed and slipped a little bit each year.
Each year the days on the calendar corresponded a little less to the actual orbit of Earth around the sun.
By the time Aloysius came around, the Julian calendar was more than ten days off, which caused great concern to church officials trying to determine the date important religious events like Easter.
Aloysius' calendar proposed a solar year of 365 days divided into twelve months, with an extra day added on leap years to correct for smaller inaccuracies.
Though the Gregorian calendar isn't perfect, it has become the world's common civil calendar.
Thanks to Aloysius, people around the world finally agree on the date.
