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I have found that the scientific and mathematic definition of "midnight" is either the beginning of the day or the end of the day. For instance, The New York Public Library Science Desk Reference (Stonesong Press, 1995, p. 73) states that "midnight can be designated as 2400 hour of that day, or 0000 hours of the following day."
The on-line version of The Young Reporter Style Book, states that "midnight by tradition is the end of the day, not the beginning of the next one. So if you are writing on Monday morning 'midnight yesterday' means the midnight which just passed, and 'midnight tomorrow' means Tuesday night."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
NOUN: 1. The middle of the night, specifically 12 o'clock at night. 2a. Intense darkness or gloom. b. A period of darkness and gloom.
By definition, 12 a.m. denotes midnight, and 12 p.m. denotes noon, but there is sufficient confusion over the meanings of a.m. and p.m. when the hour is 12 to make it advisable to use 12 noon and 12 midnight where clarity is required.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001
(UT), the international time standard common to every place in the world, it nominally reflects the mean solar time along the earth’s prime meridian (renumbered to equate to civil time). In 1884, under international agreement, the prime meridian was established as running through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, setting the standard of Greenwich mean time (GMT). In keeping with tradition, the start of a solar day occurred at noon. In 1925 the numbering system for GMT was changed so that the day began at midnight to make it consistent with the civil day. Some confusion in terminology resulted, however, and in 1928 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) changed the designation of the standard time of the prime meridian to universal time. In 1955 the IAU defined several kinds of UT. The initial values of universal time obtained at 75 observatories, denoted UT0, differ slightly because of polar motion. By adding a correction each observatory converts UT0 into UT1, which gives the Earth’s rotational position in space. An empirical correction to take account of annual changes in the speed of rotation is then added to convert UT1 to UT2. However, UT2 has since been superseded by atomic time (time as given by atomic clocks). Universal time is also called world time, Z time, and Zulu time.
In 1964 a new timescale, called coordinated universal time (UTC), was internationally adopted. UTC is more uniform and more accurate than the UT2 system because the UTC second is based on atomic time (although the UTC year is still based on the time it takes the earth to complete one orbit). Because the rate of the earth’s rotation is gradually slowing, it is occasionally necessary to add an extra second, called the leap second, to the length of the UTC year; synchronization is obtained by making the last minute of June or December contain 61 seconds. About one leap second per year has been inserted since 1972.
Midnight
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
mid'-nit (chatsoth laylah, "middle of the night" (Exodus 11:4; Job 34:20; Psalms 119:62), chatsi ha-laylah, "the half of the night" (Exodus 12:29; Judges 16:3; Ruth 3:8), tokh ha-laylah, "the division of the night" and hence, the middle point (1 Kings 3:20); meses nuktos (Matthew 25:6), or meson tes nuktos, "the middle of the night" (Acts 27:27), mesonuktios, "midnight"; Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek, mesonuktion (Acts 16:25, etc.)): In the period before the exile midnight does not seem to have been very accurately determined. The division of the night was into three watches, the middle one of which included midnight. In New Testament times the four-watch division was used where midnight must have been more or less accurately determined.
ENJOY
The on-line version of The Young Reporter Style Book, states that "midnight by tradition is the end of the day, not the beginning of the next one. So if you are writing on Monday morning 'midnight yesterday' means the midnight which just passed, and 'midnight tomorrow' means Tuesday night."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
NOUN: 1. The middle of the night, specifically 12 o'clock at night. 2a. Intense darkness or gloom. b. A period of darkness and gloom.
By definition, 12 a.m. denotes midnight, and 12 p.m. denotes noon, but there is sufficient confusion over the meanings of a.m. and p.m. when the hour is 12 to make it advisable to use 12 noon and 12 midnight where clarity is required.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001
(UT), the international time standard common to every place in the world, it nominally reflects the mean solar time along the earth’s prime meridian (renumbered to equate to civil time). In 1884, under international agreement, the prime meridian was established as running through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, setting the standard of Greenwich mean time (GMT). In keeping with tradition, the start of a solar day occurred at noon. In 1925 the numbering system for GMT was changed so that the day began at midnight to make it consistent with the civil day. Some confusion in terminology resulted, however, and in 1928 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) changed the designation of the standard time of the prime meridian to universal time. In 1955 the IAU defined several kinds of UT. The initial values of universal time obtained at 75 observatories, denoted UT0, differ slightly because of polar motion. By adding a correction each observatory converts UT0 into UT1, which gives the Earth’s rotational position in space. An empirical correction to take account of annual changes in the speed of rotation is then added to convert UT1 to UT2. However, UT2 has since been superseded by atomic time (time as given by atomic clocks). Universal time is also called world time, Z time, and Zulu time.
In 1964 a new timescale, called coordinated universal time (UTC), was internationally adopted. UTC is more uniform and more accurate than the UT2 system because the UTC second is based on atomic time (although the UTC year is still based on the time it takes the earth to complete one orbit). Because the rate of the earth’s rotation is gradually slowing, it is occasionally necessary to add an extra second, called the leap second, to the length of the UTC year; synchronization is obtained by making the last minute of June or December contain 61 seconds. About one leap second per year has been inserted since 1972.
Midnight
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
mid'-nit (chatsoth laylah, "middle of the night" (Exodus 11:4; Job 34:20; Psalms 119:62), chatsi ha-laylah, "the half of the night" (Exodus 12:29; Judges 16:3; Ruth 3:8), tokh ha-laylah, "the division of the night" and hence, the middle point (1 Kings 3:20); meses nuktos (Matthew 25:6), or meson tes nuktos, "the middle of the night" (Acts 27:27), mesonuktios, "midnight"; Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek, mesonuktion (Acts 16:25, etc.)): In the period before the exile midnight does not seem to have been very accurately determined. The division of the night was into three watches, the middle one of which included midnight. In New Testament times the four-watch division was used where midnight must have been more or less accurately determined.
ENJOY
