Leap Day: The Ancient Origins of How We Tell Time

About Dr. Colleen Darnell

A Yale-trained Egyptologist, Dr. Colleen Darnell has traveled the world researching hieroglyphic inscriptions. She led an archaeological expedition in Egypt that discovered a fifteen-hundred year old Roman settlement in the Eastern Desert, and with her husband, Professor John Darnell, published the first complete English translation of the texts in the Valley of the Kings. Dr. Darnell was the first to identify works of historical fiction written by the ancient Egyptians themselves. Colleen and her husband Professor John Darnell have been hard at work on an exciting new biography of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the parents of King Tut, entitled Egypt's Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth, published November 1, 2022 by St Martin's Press. She shares her passion for Egyptology with “kids” of all ages.

About the class

February 29 doesn’t come around often, so let’s use it to investigate why it appears on our calendar at all. In fact, in this live, interactive session with noted Egyptologist Dr. Colleen Darnell, students will learn the astronomical and anthropological origins of our clocks and calendars. Why are there 12 months in a year (and why is February the shortest even in these years when it’s at its longest)? How did we land on 7-day weeks, 24-hour days, and 60-minute hours? Who named the months and days? And, given all of these ancient roots that have evolved over centuries, how did the entire world come to agree that this Leap Day is Thursday, February 29, 2024? Find out as we retrace the unique origins and evolution of our clocks and calendars on this, the most unique of all calendar dates.