Title: Longitude
First published: September 5, 2005
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.
Subjects: Royal Society, Harrison timekeepers, Kendall timekeepers, Lunar distance method, Lunar tables, chronometer, GMT, Literature in Italian, History, Biography, Chronometers, Clock and watch makers, Measurement, Longitude, Long Now Manual for Civilization, Nonfiction, Science, Horology, Astronomical clocks, Research, Harrison, john, 1693-1776, Chronomètre, Navigatie, Sterrenkunde, Histoire, Scheepvaart, Horlogemakers, Geografische lengte, Large type books, Geography, Navigasjon, Biografi, Clocks and watch makers, Astronomical clock, Biographie, Schiffschronometer, Geografische Länge, Messung, Great britain, biography, Scientists, Social & cultural aspects of technology, Scientists - biography, Science - applied, Applied science, General & miscellaneous transportation, Physics, Exploration & discovery, Scient, Biography and autobiography
Places: Great Britain, England
People: John Harrison, Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, Edmond Halley, Larcum Kendall, John Harrison (1693-1776)
Time periods: Eighteenth Century
LC classification: QB225 .S63 1998, QB225 .S64 1995