Lamport: time, clocks and event ordering

What changed

Distributed systems gained a general language and implementable mechanism for causal ordering without a shared clock.

Scientific scope

Lamport's 1978 paper; earlier timestamping ideas and Byzantine agreement are separate.

Evidence

The linked sources identify this contribution and its scope. WRS has not independently reconstructed the scientific claims. This is Lamport’s 1978 paper. Earlier timestamping ideas by Johnson and Thomas are historical context, not coauthorship; Byzantine agreement remains a separate entry.

Contributors

• Leslie Lamport · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.

• Lamport, Time, Clocks, and the Ordering of Events in a Distributed System (1978)

Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-16.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.

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