The development of the first atomic frequency standard by Louis Essen in the 1950s is at the origin of the adoption of the atomic definition of the SI second by the 13th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1967 and the consequent adoption of the atomic timescale.

After the short reign of ephemeris time as the world's reference timescale from 1954 until 1967, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), synchronized to universal time UT1, appeared as the best compromise for satisfying the requests of all users. At the moment of the discussion on the adoption of an atomic timescale to replace ephemeris time, the possibility of having both an astronomical time and an atomic time to serve different purposes was discussed. In the words of Essen [1], this 'would cause endless confusion as well as involving duplication of equipment'.

Forty years after the adoption of the definition of Coordinated Universal Time at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), we are close to the moment of making a decision on whether or not to decouple UTC from its tight link to the rotation of the Earth embodied in UT1. It has been a ten-year process of discussion, mainly at the ITU with the input of the International Astronomical Union, the BIPM, the Consultative Committee for Time and Frequency and other organizations. The majority opinion supported the change based on developers and users of systems that need time synchronization to a stable and continuous reference timescale; others insist on the necessity of keeping the leap-second strategy for serving some applications or just for tradition. It is our hope that, as happened in the seventies, the most appropriate definition to serve all modern applications will be adopted with the consensus of the different sectors.

The redirection of international timekeeping from astronomy to metrology can be considered the benchmark that started the era of modern timescales, all based on atomic properties. The aim of this special issue of Metrologia is to review timescales in use today, either the internationally recognized references or those adapted to some specific applications, to discuss new and future developments and to present the sometimes complex procedures for making international recommendations.

We are grateful to our colleagues who, without exception, accepted our invitation to contribute to this special issue.

Reference

Henderson D 2005 Metrologia 42 S4–29

The pdf file contains an appendix: "Glossary of acronyms related to timescales used in this issue".