The definitive account of the history of this particular
legend is Tom McIver's article, "Ancient Tales and Space-Age
Myths of Creationist Evangelism," Skeptical Inquirer 10 (1986),
258-76. An equally accurate but shorter and less detailed
account by ASA astrophysicist and Biblical scholar Robert C.
Newman is "The Longest Day," United Evangelical (23 Aug 1974),
8-11. Interested parties are invited to consult these sources
for the full story.
The short story is that the original version of this tall tale
was invented (yes, that is the correct word) by an Adventist
professor of military science at Yale -- a person sometimes
identified as a "Yale astronomer" in versions of the story.
His name was Charles Totten. Info on Totten is available in
the old National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Totten made
several absurd assumptions about the appearance of the sky on
the day of creation and about the exact moment of the creation
of Adam, not to mention additional assumptions about the Joshua
story, from which he "showed" that 23 hours and 20 minutes were
"lost" out of time during Joshua's battle; another 40 minutes
were lost when the sun's shadow went back for Hezekiah, giving
exactly 24 hours gone. I won't say any more; it only gets worse.
.......................................................................
Ted Davis
Assoc Prof of Science and History
Messiah College
Grantham, PA 17027
717-766-2511, ext 6840
tdavis@mcis.messiah.edu