2-29-12: A Regularly Occurring February 29th?

Photo by Daphne Cholet via Flickr Creative Commons

[audio http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wypr/local-wypr-1005195.mp3]

Happy Leap Day.  Today’s the day when we extend the month of February so that the way we count our days catches up with the earth’s revolutions around the sun.  This is a feature of both the Julian calendar, adopted in 45 BC, and the Gregorian Calendar, which went into effect in 1582, by Papal Decree of Pope Gregory the 13^th.

If two researchers at Johns Hopkins University have their way, we’ll change the calendar again. Richard Conn Henry is an astrophysicist in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, and Steve H. Hanke is an applied economist in the Whiting School of Engineering, and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington.  They talk about their new model with Tom Hall.