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book jacket
BOOK
Title Longitude : the true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time / Dava Sobel ; with a foreword by Neil Armstrong
Author Sobel, Dava
Imprint New York : Walker, [2007]

LIBRARY / MAP CALL NUMBER STATUS MESSAGE
 Rosengård:Vuxen Facklitteratur (500-599)  520 Harrison engelska    CHECK SHELF  ---
Descript xiv, 184 pages color illustrations, portraits 19 cm
Note Includes bibliographical references and index
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. The quest for a solution had occupied scientists for the better part of two centuries when, in 1714, England's parliament upped the ante by offering a king's ransom (£20,000, or approximately $12 million in today's currency) to anyone whose method or device proved successful and reproducible. The scientific establishment throughout Europe -- from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton -- had mapped the heavens in it pursuit of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, 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"--Page 2 of cover
Subject Harrison, John, 1693-1776
Astronomiska ur
Urmakare
Tidmätning
Longitudinella undersökningar
Horology
Clock and watch makers -- England -- Biography
Astronomical clocks -- England -- History
Longitude -- Research -- History
Storbritannien -- England
Biografier
Biographies.
Classmark 526.62
Lz Harrison, John
ISBN/ISSN 9780802715296 (pbk.)
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