“He wrested the world’s whereabouts from the stars, and locked the secret in a pocket watch.”–Dava Sobel, Longitude
In the eighteenth century, the greatest scientific dilemma was “the longitude problem”–how to know where you were in the sea once you lost sight of land. This was such an important issue that huge rewards were offered by governments to whomever could solve the problem. John Harrison thought of a possible solution that was completely at odds with the general scientific thought of the time–a clock that could keep precise time at sea. This was a tall order since not even clocks on land were that precise.
Harrison spent the next forty years of his life perfecting the time keeping device he invented, known today as the chronometer. Dava Sobel brings this compelling story to life through her extensive research, understanding of astronomy, and skillful narrative. This has long been a favorite book of mine.
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