On Tue 2021-01-12T14:34:52+0000 Koning, Paul hath writ:
Is there any reason to believe that story is more than fiction?
"Why Scientists Want to Shorten the Minute to 59 Seconds"
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a35165130/leap-second-shorten-minut...
No, but it is a common fiction that has arisen because the content of the negotiations that led to the inception of leap seconds was not explained. At the time of inception no scientist believed that leap seconds were the best way to regulate time. The closest that they could come at IAU was to assert that leap seconds were the "optimum solution" while redacting all of the arguments and discussion indicating that the problem that needed a solution was legal and political, not technical. -- Steve Allen <sla@ucolick.org> WGS-84 (GPS) UCO/Lick Observatory--ISB 260 Natural Sciences II, Room 165 Lat +36.99855 1156 High Street Voice: +1 831 459 3046 Lng -122.06015 Santa Cruz, CA 95064 https://www.ucolick.org/~sla/ Hgt +250 m