The year in which no Greeks were born from February 16 to 28

In what year was no child born in Greece for the full 12 days of February?

More than a century ago, a very special event occurred: 1923 from From 16 to 28 February Not a single child was born in all of Greece, at least not on paper.

No matter how much you search, you will not find anyone with a birth date during this period.

The reason this happens in Greece is Those days never existedBut it was extinguished overnight and instead of February 17, 1923, March 1 dawned.

What happened

That year Greece switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendarwhich we still use today.

• Julian calendar: It was introduced in 46 BC. It was a reform of the Roman calendar. Valid from 45 BC. It took its final form in the year 8 AD. In creating the calendar, Julius Caesar sought help from the Greek astronomer Sosigenes from Alexandria, Egypt, who relied on the calculations of Hipparchus, according to which the length of the year was equal to 365,242 days.
• Gregorian calendar: Most widespread worldwide, it is a form of julienne and has been in use since the 1st century BC. The change was proposed by the Neapolitan physician Aloysius Lilius and founded by Pope Gregory The number of days in a calendar year increased from 365.25 Julian days (365 days 6 hours) to 365.2425 days (365 days 5 hours 49 minutes 12 seconds), a decrease of 10 minutes 48 seconds per year.

Differences in calendars

After the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, the difference between it and the Julian calendar gradually increased In three days In the past four centuries. When one refers to events that occurred in a country that uses the Gregorian calendar and compares them in time with events that occurred in a country or countries that use the Julian calendar, there will be differences in the date, usually with two dates listed at the same time.

to ExampleThe naval battle of Navarino took place on October 20/October 8, 1827, because the date recorded in the diaries of the British and French ships was October 20, while the date recorded by the Greeks and Russians was October 8, 1827.

The difference values ​​in days are also given by equation:

The calculated difference increases by one every new century year (year ending in “00”) on February 29 Julian or March 1 AD, whichever comes last.

For positive variations, it is followed by the Julian February 29, while for positive variations, it is followed by the Gregorian March 1.

Why was the Gregorian calendar chosen?

He was chosen because he has More precision Relative to the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar improves its approach Juliano Throughout the year, subtracting 3 additional days in corresponding 400-year leap years (those that are divisible by 100 rather than 400).

Thus, the average year lasts 365.2425 average solar days, causing an error of about one day every 3300 years, compared to the average tropical year of 365.2422 days, but less than half the error relative to the vernal equinox year of 365.2424 days. However, he is 29 times better than Julian who It was delayed by one day every 128 years (The average year is 365.25 days).