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Longitude
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Longitude (1995) (edit title/settings)

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

by Dava Sobel (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

Anyone alive in the eighteeth century would have known that "the logitude 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... read more

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

  • - John Harrison creates a mechanical device that flies in the face of popular astronomy to accurately gauge location.

Summary edit see section history

"Anyone alive in the Eighteenth Century would have known that 'the longitude problem' was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day" (cover). John Harrison, a lower middle-class, tinkerer from England followed his passion which started with the design and build of large clock tower to the... read more

"Anyone alive in the Eighteenth Century would have known that 'the longitude problem' was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day" (cover). John Harrison, a lower middle-class, tinkerer from England followed his passion which started with the design and build of large clock tower to the intricate mechanizations of a pocket-watch chronometer.

Prior to Harrison's inventions sailors navigated semi-blindly via the stars, land marks, and even through the use of a healing powder and the time a wound would heal. The constant conflict between better known names such as Edmond Halley (founder of Halley's comet) and Isaac Newton, who sought solutions in the stars, provide intrigue. Perhaps the main villain in this account is Revrend Nevil Maskelyne, who supported the use of the stars as the only true method for discovering longitude.

Inevitably, Harrison's "chronometer" won out. In fact, watch horologists around the world are still fascinated with the precision of the jewels that drove the H-4 timepiece. Originally a carpenter by trade, Harrison's passion for "capturing" time helped sailors to find the most accurate method to navigate the seas. Finally, mass production of chronometers was perfected by John Arnold. Eventually, Harrison's name slipped the history books, but it does deserve mention next to the such greats as Newton and Halley.

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Harrison saw he'd have to jettison his gridiron pendulum in order to win the 20,000 pounds" (73).”
    author
  • “"Having established itself securely on shipboard, the chronometer was soon taken for granted, like any other essential thing, and the whole question of its contentious history along with the name f its original inventor, dropped from the conscoiusness of the seamen who used it every day" (164).”
    Author
  • “"To unravel them now-to retrace their story in an age when a network of orbiting satellites can nail down a ship's position within a few feet in just a moment or two-is to see the globe anew" (10).”
    author
  • “"His every success, however, was parried by members by members of the scientific elite, who distrusted Harrison's magic box" (9).”
  • “"the commissioners charged with awarding the longitude prize-Nevil Maskelyne among them-changed the contest rules whenever they saw fit, so as to favor the chances of astronomer over the likes of Harrison and his fellow "mechanics" (9).”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • Those same fifteen degrees of longitude also correspond to a distance traveled. At the Equator, where the girth of the Earth is greatest, fifteen degrees stretch fully one thousand miles. North or south of that line, however, the mileage value of each degree decreases. One degree of longitude equals four minutes of time the world over, but in terms of distance, one degree shrinks from sixty-eight miles at the Equator to virtually nothing at the poles.
    Highlighted by 25 Kindle customers
  • The zero-degree parallel of latitude is fixed by the laws of nature, while the zero-degree meridian of longitude shifts like the sands of time.
    Highlighted by 24 Kindle customers
  • Since the Earth takes twenty-four hours to complete one full revolution of three hundred sixty degrees, one hour marks one twenty-fourth of a spin, or fifteen degrees. And so each hour’s time difference between the ship and the starting point marks a progress of fifteen degrees of longitude to the east or west. Every day at sea, when the navigator resets his ship’s clock to local noon when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky, and then consults the home-port clock, every hour’s discrepancy between them translates into another fifteen degrees of longitude.
    Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers
  • Roemer used the departures from predicted eclipse times to measure the speed of light for the first time in 1676. (He slightly underestimated the accepted modern value of 300,000 kilometers per second.)
    Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers
  • In the course of their struggle to find longitude, scientists struck upon other discoveries that changed their view of the universe. These include the first accurate determinations of the weight of the Earth, the distance to the stars, and the speed of light.
    Highlighted by 16 Kindle customers
  • Time is to clock as mind is to brain.
    Highlighted by 15 Kindle customers
  • The tower clock that Harrison completed about 1722 still tells time in Brocklesby Park. It has been running continuously for more than 270 years— except for a brief period in 1884 when workers stopped it for refurbishing.
    Highlighted by 15 Kindle customers
  • In 1759, when Harrison finished H-4, the timekeeper that ultimately won the longitude prize, it bore a stronger resemblance to the Jefferys watch than to any of its legitimate predecessors, H-1, H-2, or H-3.
    Highlighted by 15 Kindle customers
  • The British Parliament, in its famed Longitude Act of 1714, set the highest bounty of all, naming a prize equal to a king’s ransom (several million dollars in today’s currency) for a “Practicable and Useful” means of determining longitude.
    Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers
  • An aged, exhausted Harrison, taken under the wing of King George III, ultimately claimed his rightful monetary reward in 1773—after forty struggling years of political intrigue, international warfare, academic backbiting, scientific revolution, and economic upheaval.
    Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers
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First Sentence edit see section history

Once on a Wednesday excursion when I was a little girl, my father bought me a beaded wire ball that I loved.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Acknowledgments

1. Imaginary Lines
2. The Sea Before Time
3. Adrift in a Clockwork Universe
4. Time in a Bottle
5. Powder of Sympathy
6. The Prize
7. Cogmaker's Journal
8. The Grasshopper Goes to Sea
9. Hands on Heaven's Clock
10. The Diamond Timekeeper
11. Trial by Fire and Water
12. A Tale of Two Portraits
13. The Second Voyage of Captain James Cook
14. The Mass Production of Genius
15. In the Meridian Courtyard

Sources
Index

Glossary edit see section history

  • chronometer: the device used to determine the longitude while at sea.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This book is in 100 One-Night Reads: A Book Lover's Guide. (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Dava Sobel (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Walker
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1995
ISBN: 0802713122
Page Count: 184

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: QB0225.S640
  • Dewey: 526.6209

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Add the suggested reading level for this book.

Lexile Score: 1320

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
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Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
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