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Author: Dava Sobel Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA ISBN: 0802779433 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 209
Book Description
The 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.
Author: Dava Sobel Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA ISBN: 0802779433 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 209
Book Description
The 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.
Author: Joan Marie Galat Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN: 9781455616374 Category : Juvenile Nonfiction Languages : en Pages : 36
Book Description
Scientific discovery changes the world! Discover the fascinating story behind one of the most important changes to nautical navigation in this nonfiction book for young readers. More than 300 years ago, explorers wandered the seas using unreliable maps. What they needed to know was the longitude of their locations, but for that they needed accurate time keeping. Unfortunately, no accurate source of time measurement at sea existed. In 1714 the British government decided to offer a reward to anyone who could solve the problem. Learned men and great thinkers alike tried unsuccessfully to work out a solution. They declared it unsolvable! Carpenter John Harrison was intrigued; he thought he might have a solution. He worked for years to design a clock that functioned accurately at sea, even though no one believed he could do it. Even after his timepiece was demonstrated effective at sea, he was still not acknowledged for his ingenious solution. It took many years and intervention by the king to grant Harrison the recognition and reward he deserved for solving the problem of how to accurately track longitude and for winning the British government prize. The book offers a detailed map of the world at that time and includes the advancements in the use of longitude since then.
Author: Richard Dunn Publisher: ISBN: 9780007525867 Category : Longitude Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Official publication of the National Maritime Museum's exhibition "Ships, Clocks and Stars: The Quest for Longitude". 300 years ago, amidst growing frustration from the naval community and pressure from the increasing importance of international trade, the British government passed the 1714 Longitude Act. It was an attempt to solve one of the most pressing problems of the age: how to determine a ship's longitude (east-west position) at sea. With life-changing rewards on offer, the challenge captured the imaginations and talents of astronomers, skilled craftsmen, politicians, seamen and satirists. This beautifully illustrated book is a detailed account of these stories, and how the longitude problem was solved. Highlights of the book include: * Foreword by the fifteenth Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees. * Specially commissioned photographs of the National Maritime Museum's collection. * A new description of the collaborations and conflicts in a tale of technical creativity, scientific innovation and hard commercialism. From the same publisher as Dava Sobel's Longitude, Finding Longitude tells a new story of one of the great achievements of the Georgian age, and how it changed our understanding of the world.
Author: Derek Howse Publisher: Philip Wilson Publishers ISBN: Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 208
Book Description
The history of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich has been revised to coincide with the Millenium. Color illustrations and updated text tell the story of Greenwich from its foundations in 1676 to its present status as Longitude 0°, the world's Prime Meridian for measuring longitude and time. The book covers the importance of longitude for navigation and traces the history of Greenwich Time, the basis of universal time-keeping. The book is co-published with the National Maritime Museum, where Derek Howse was the former Head of Navigation and Astronomy.
Author: Richard Dunn Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 0062357174 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 601
Book Description
A tale of eighteenth-century invention and competition, commerce and conflict, this is a lively, illustrated, and accurate chronicle of the search to solve “the longitude problem,” the question of how to determine a ship’s position at sea—and one that changed the history of mankind. Ships, Clocks, and Stars brings into focus one of our greatest scientific stories: the search to accurately measure a ship’s position at sea. The incredible, illustrated volume reveals why longitude mattered to seafaring nations, illuminates the various solutions that were proposed and tested, and explores the invention that revolutionized human history and the man behind it, John Harrison. Here, too, are the voyages of Captain Cook that put these revolutionary navigational methods to the test. Filled with astronomers, inventors, politicians, seamen, and satirists, Ships, Clocks, and Stars explores the scientific, political, and commercial battles of the age, as well as the sailors, ships, and voyages that made it legend—from Matthew Flinders and George Vancouver to the voyages of the Bounty and the Beagle. Featuring more than 150 photographs specially commissioned from Britain’s National Maritime Museum, this evocative, detailed, and thoroughly fascinating history brings this age of exploration and enlightenment vividly to life.
Author: Dava Sobel Publisher: Paw Prints ISBN: 9781439559321 Category : Chronometers Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
A new illustrated edition of the best-selling Longitude chronicles the tale of the eighteenth-century inventor John Harrison, who created the chronometer and, in the process, saved thousands of lives and great fortunes. Reprint.
Author: Nicholas Crane Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1643137964 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 280
Book Description
Latitude is a gloriously exciting tale of adventure and scientific discovery that has never been told before. Crane, the former president of the Royal Geographic Society, documents the remarkable expedition undertaken by a group of twelve European adventurer-scientists in the mid-eighteenth century. The team spent years in South America, scaling volcanoes and traversing jungles before they achieved their goal of establishing the exact shape of the Earth by measuring the length of 1 degree latitude at the equator. Their endeavors were not limited to this one achievement. Not only did their discovery open up the possibility for safe, accurate navigation across the seas, they also discovered rubber and quinine. With a narrative that reads like it was taken from the script of an adventure movie, Nicholas Crane brings to life a narrative that is a timely remind of how scientific discovery can change the world and our future. By knowing the shape of the earth we can create maps, survive the oceans, navigate the skies, and travel across the globe. Without latitude, maps and navigation wouldn’t be accurate, lives would have been lost, and exact locations of cities and rivers would never be known. After ten grueling years in search of a magic number, the survivors returned to Europe with their historical discovery and fueled the public’s interest in science. Twent-five years ago, Dava Sobel’s bestselling Longitude was a global publishing phenomenon, yet it told only one half of the story. With Latitude, this cornerstone piece of our shared history is now complete with this tale of a trip that changed the course of human civilization. Filled with raw excitement and danger, Latitude brings the challenges that faced these explorer-scientists to vivid life.
Author: Publisher: ISBN: 9781906367992 Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
John Harrison and the Quest for Longitude, in a revised and updated edition, is a fascinating account of the life and achievements of John Harrison, the man who designed and built the first accurate marine chronometers. Inspired by the prize offered in 1714 to provide a solution to the problem of determining longitudinal position at sea, John Harrison - a carpenter by trade - set out to develop portable clocks that would rival even the most precise watches of the time. His famous 'H' timepieces went on to revolutionise sea travel and save many thousands of lives. Now housed in the collection of Royal Observatory Greenwich, they are milestones in clock- making history. Beautifully illustrated with images that showcase the intricate detail and mechanisms of the timepieces,John Harrison and the Quest for Longitudetells the story of one man driven by the need to solve one of the greatest practical problems of his time.
Author: Andrew Kenneth Johnston Publisher: ISBN: 1588344916 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 225
Book Description
If you want to know where you are, you need a good clock. The surprising connection between time and placeais explored inaTime and Navigation- The Untold Story of Getting from Here to There, the companion book to the National Air and Space Museum exhibition of the same name. Today we use smartphones and GPS, but navigating has not always been so easy. The oldest "clock" is Earth itself, and the oldest means of keeping time came from observing changes in the sky. Early mariners like the Vikings accomplished amazing feats of navigation without using clocks at all. Pioneering seafarers in the Age of Exploration used dead reckoning and celestial navigation; later innovations such as sextants and marine chronometers honed these techniques by measuring latitude and longitude. When explorers turned their sights to the skies, they built on what had been learned at sea. For example, Charles Lindbergh used a bubble sextant on his record-breaking flights. World War II led to the development of new flight technologies, notably radio navigation, since celestial navigation was not suited for all-weather military operations. These forms of navigation were extended and enhanced when explorers began guiding spacecraft into space and across the solar system. Astronauts combined celestial navigation technology with radio transmissions. The development of the atomic clock revolutionized space flight because it could measure billionths of a second, thereby allowing mission teams to navigate more accurately. Scientists and engineers applied these technologies to navigation on earth to develop space-based time and navigation services such as GPS that is used every day by people from all walks of life. While the history of navigation is one of constant change and innovation, it is also one of remarkable continuity. Time and Navigation tells the story of navigation to help us understand where we have been and how we got there so that we can understand where we are going.
Author: John Bendall Publisher: Austin Macauley ISBN: 9781528920759 Category : Chronometers Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Maritime navigational tools could find latitude, but finding longitude remained elusive until Harrison developed the reliable sea clock, H4. Building on H4's success, Kendall made a series of nautical timekeepers, K1, K2 and K3. This is the story of the K2 timekeeper; its adventurous voyages, the people it touched, and its place in history. K2's first voyage, accompanied by the young Nelson, was nearly its last in the crushing Arctic ice. The next two expeditions saw it survive kidnappings, nautical intrigue, and gunpowder plots of the American revolutionary wars. The slave coasts of Africa followed. Bligh took K2 on the Bounty, but lost it in a fight with the mutineers in 1789. It was recovered by an American Quaker from Nantucket, only to be stolen by the Spanish. It rode on mules along the Andes before sailing into the Opium Wars. K2 finally returned to Greenwich in 1963. DRAMATIC, THREE NATION 'STORY OF TIME'
Author: Dava Sobel
Author: Dava Sobel
Author: Joan Marie Galat
Author: Richard Dunn
Author: Derek Howse
Author: Richard Dunn
Author: Dava Sobel
Author: Nicholas Crane
Author: 
Author: Andrew Kenneth Johnston
Author: John Bendall