Kenneth Mercurio, age 10, of Utica, New York, for his question:

Who decided to make January the first month?

Our month March is named for the old Roman month Martius, which was named to be the first month of the year. The story of the switch goes back to the year 46 B.C. The Roman legions had marched across most of Europe. Julius Ceasar was deciding the large and small details of everyday life throughout all the conquered territories. And this military minded man was a great one for remodeling customs, streamlining and bringing things up to date. He decided that the entire Roman empire must use the same calendar. But the Roman calendar, used for centuries, did not suit him. It had 10 months, beginning with Martius    but its 304 days did not match the number of days in the real year. Caesar ordered an up dating of this old calendar. He wanted one with the right number of days and some consideration for the lunar months.

Caesar ordered the best astronomers of his day to figure the correct number of days in the year. The answer was 365, which happened to be about a quarter day short of the truth. On his new calendar, he divided these days into 12 months adding two new months, January and February. He put them at the beginning of the parade, moving Martius down to third place. It was Julius Caesar who decided to make January the first month of the year, way back in 46 B.C.