Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

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Without longitudinal calculations, many ships became lost. During long voyages, calculating one's distance became nearly impossible to gauge with serious accuracy. Discovering the "secret of the longitude" was therefore a great goal for any ship's captain and for any country with business, military or commercial, on the high seas. The British legislature set up a Board of Longitude which had the authority to offer an award to anyone who could solve the problem. The book is about John Harrison's long, bedeviled question to built an incredibly accurate time-piece that could resist the vagaries of the sea.

The Biggest Peril to Ships for Most of History - The New York

John Harrison's marine timekeepers are on display at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London and are well worth seeing...the globe'' in a series of concentric circles that are smaller the farther they are from the equator. Non-fiction Outstanding Books for the College Bound Titles". Young Adult Library Services Association. 15 March 2007 . Retrieved 2015-11-01. Sobel made her first foray into teaching at the University of Chicago as the Vare Writer-in-Residence in the winter of 2006. She taught a one-quarter seminar on writing about science.

Longitude — The Glass Universe

Britain was not alone in the desire to solve the problem. France's King Louis XIV founded the Académie Royale des Sciences in 1666. It was charged with, among a range of scientific activities, the improvement of maps and sailing charts and advancement of the science of navigation. From 1715, the Académie offered one of the two Prix Rouillés specifically for navigation. [4] Spain's Philip II offered a prize for the discovery of a solution to the problem of the longitude in 1567; Philip III increased the prize in 1598. Holland added to the effort with a prize offered in 1636. [5] Navigators and scientists in most European countries were aware of the problem and were involved in finding the solution. Due to the international effort in solving the problem and the scale of the enterprise, it represents one of the largest scientific endeavours in history.Indeed, echoes of the great rivalries across the ages surface in Longitude, reminding us that science is never as simple nor as objective as we like to think. Invention is partly innovation, partly inspiration, and part imitation. Sobel is careful to stress that Maskelyne was not the villain in this piece, merely the antagonist—like the feud between Newton and Hooke, the feud between Harrison and Maskelyne was a dispute between two men who knew their stuff. But where ego is concerned and establishing primacy is often necessary for the money and prestige that follows a discovery, tempers will flare and harsh words will be exchanged. Navigating purely by latitude was of course vulnerable if the sun was clouded over at noon, and caused problems as it prevented ships from taking the most direct route, a great circle, or a route with the most favourable winds and currents, extending voyages by days or even weeks. This increased the likelihood of short rations, [3] scurvy or starvation leading to poor health or even death for members of the crew and resultant risk to the ship.