Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His TimeThe dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of one man's forty-year obsession to find a solution to the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day--"the longitude problem." Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day-and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. One man, John Harrison, in complete opposition to the scientific community, dared to imagine a mechanical solution-a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land. Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking, and opens a new window on our world. |
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
Adrift in a Clockwork Universe | 21 |
Time in a Bottle | 34 |
Powder of Sympathy | 41 |
The Prize | 51 |
Cogmakers Journal | 61 |
The Grasshopper Goes to Sea | 74 |
The Diamond Timekeeper | 100 |
Trial by Fire and Water | 111 |
A Tale of Two Portraits | 126 |
The Second Voyage of Captain James Cook | 138 |
The Mass Production of Genius | 152 |
In the Meridian Courtyard | 165 |
Sources | 177 |
181 | |
Other editions - View all
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the ..., Volumes 0-2 Dava Sobel Limited preview - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
Anson Arnold astronomer royal balance spring Berthoud Board of Longitude Bradley brass Captain Cassini Centurion century chronometer clock of heaven clockmaker clockwork commissioners compass Cook degrees of longitude determining longitude dial Earnshaw Earth eclipses Edmond Halley father’s Ferdinand Berthoud finding longitude Flamsteed Galileo George gitude Gould Graham Greenwich gridiron horologist Huygens instrument island Jefferys John Harrison Jupiter keep Kendall King king’s land latitude London longi Longitude Act longitude at sea longitude prize longitude problem lunar distance method machine marine timekeepers Maskelyne’s Mayer miles minutes moon Mudge Museum nautical navigation never Nevil Maskelyne Newton night North observations ocean one’s Paris Paris Observatory pendulum pocket watch port positions precision predicted prime meridian rison Royal Observatory Royal Society sailed sailors ship ship’s stars tables temperature tested Thacker Thomas Mudge timekeeper timepiece tion took trial tude voyage watchmaker West Indies What’s William wrote