The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
by Dava Sobel, William J. H. Andrewes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dava Sobel, William J. H. AndrewesEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-01-01
ISBN: 0802775934
Number of pages: 216
Publisher: Walker & Company
Book Reviews of The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
Book Review: The Latitude Of Mind That Galvanized A Longitude Of Ideas
Summary: 5 Stars
John Harrison was an eighteenth century English clockmaker who embraced his profession with a passion. His pioneering work with seafaring clocks eventually led to one of the most distinguished achievements of his time- the north-south demarcation of global longitude. Longitude is award-winning author Dava Sobel's account of the decades-long saga that brought about Harrisons' momentous breakthrough.
Any history buff who dares look back over the turbulent ups and downs of maritime navigation will sooner or later hit on the longitude debacle that gripped much of Europe between the 15th and 17th centuries. A string of devastating incidents across international waters prompted an urgent examination by political and scientific establishments of how best to accurately map out the oceans that formed such a crucial part of global commerce. The egregious positional miscalculation by one Admiral Clowdisley Shovell, whose flotilla ran aground on the isles of Scilly off the coast of England in 1707 at a cost of 2000 lives, is perhaps the most widely documented nautical calamity of that era. Forced to navigate by latitude alone, ships became ever-vulnerable to ambush as they sailed along only a handful of well-advertized trade routes.
And so began the most hotly-contested race for scientific notoriety ever launched. Spurred on by a carrot-stick monetary prize of £20,000 that accompanied the passage of the British parliamentary Longitudonal Act in 1714, Harrison garnered somewhat of a `David and Goliath' reputation as he took on the intellectual clout of the British Admiralty. A panel of scientists, naval officers and government officials collectively known as the Board of Longitude was commissioned to sort through a plenitude of proposals claiming to adequately tackle the longitude problem. And during the years that followed, all manner of imaginative ideas were proffered by business hopefuls. Fanciful schemes that relied on perpetual motion machines or canons strategically placed across the vastness of the oceans were expeditiously rejected due to their obvious lack of practicality.
Most problematic for those wishing to cast their hopes on the reliability of clocks was the need for a timepiece that would not deviate by more than 3 seconds for every full day out at sea. Such was the accuracy threshold set by the board. But clocks at that time were simply not up to the task. Even the most experienced engineers would not have had the acumen to manufacture a timepiece that could counter the unforgiving sea swells and volatile atmospheric conditions of a trans-oceanic trip.
Undeterred the prodigious John Harrison put his apprenticed woodcraft skills to the task of winning the coveted prize. He quickly cottoned on to the idea that if a clock could reliably measure time aboard a ship and at a second location of known longitude, the ship's longitudinal position would be easily calculable. By the age of 20 Harrison had already become well-acquainted with the nuances of Newtonian mechanics and had produced his first pendulum clock using wooden cogs. With this came the realization that if he were to excel under the high standards that the board so vehemently demanded, his clocks would have to be revolutionary in almost every aspect. Most importantly oils and other similarly purposed lubricants would have to be done away with since their thermal expansion/contraction properties would so cripplingly mar the functional consistency of any cog-based mechanism. Over the course of half a century a tireless Harrison produced a series of sea clocks aptly named H1, H2, and H3, H4 (`H' for Harrison) that demonstrably addressed the temperature problem. While dumbbell-shaped bar balances, temperature-compensating bi-metallic strips and caged ball bearings made them appear other-worldly, numerous test voyages from England's southern ports affirmed their inimitable quality.
An unwavering perfectionism and an unshakable tenacity gave Harrison a respectable following among Royal Society members. But his greatest rivals never relinquished their conviction that the only truly reliable method for measuring longitude was through detailed observations of celestial movements, notably of the moon and stars. A multi-generational `relay team' of Greenwich Astronomer Royals that included the likes of John Flamsteed, James Bradley and Nevil Maskelyne battled successively in favor of the superiority of celestial cartography right up until Harrison's death in 1776. And having collectively catalogued hundreds of thousands of stars across both the southern and northern seas, their case seemed unshakable.
Under Maskelyne's watchful eye Harrison was eventually forced to hand over all of his clocks for examination by the board. Maskelyne subsequently relegated H4 to the status of a mere accessory that "might enhance the lunar distance [method] but never supplant it". But amidst considerable acrimony and a last ditch appeal to the king of England, Harrison was given an eleventh hour reprieve. Trials of the last of his timepieces, the H5 watch, and a series of cheaper replicas confirmed the mastery of this once-obscure clockmaker. He was eventually declared the winner by the Board Of Longitude and duly awarded the financial prize he so uncontrovertibly deserved.
In her book Longitude Sobel has weaved the disparate threads of this pivotal epoch of maritime history into a story that accurately reflects the animosity and tensions that so entangled its key players. A firm grasp of relevant scientific and political themes brings a unique aspect to Sobel's prose as does her fast-paced style and attention to detail. Such a rare combination of qualities makes Longitude a must read for those wishing to experience popular science writing at its best.
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Summary of The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
A fully illustrated edition of the international best-seller Longitude.
The Illustrated Longitude recounts in words and images the epic quest to solve the greatest scientific problem of the eighteenth and three prior centuries: determining how a captain could pinpoint his ship's location at sea. All too often throughout the ages of exploration, voyages ended in disaster when crew and cargo were either lost at sea or destroyed upon the rocks of an unexpected landfall. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of nations hung on a resolution to the longitude problem.
To encourage a solution, governments established prizes for anyone whose method or device proved successful. The largest reward of £20,000-- truly a king's ransom-- was offered by Britain's Parliament in 1714. The scientific establishment-- from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton-- had been certain that a celestial answer would be found and invested untold effort in this pursuit. By contrast, John Harrison imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that told perfect time at sea, known today as the chronometer. Harrison's trials and tribulations during his forty-year quest to win the prize are the culmination of this remarkable story.
The Illustrated Longitude brings a new and important dimension to Dava Sobel's celebrated story. It contains the entire original narrative of Longitude, redesigned to accompany 183 images chosen by William Andrewes-- from portraints of every important figure in the story to maps and diagrams, scientifc instruments, and John Harrison's remarkable sea clocks themselves. Andrewes's elegant captions and sidebars on scientific and historical events tell their own story of longitude, paralleling and illuminating Sobel's memorable tale.
The Illustrated Longitude recounts in words and images the epic quest to solve the greatest scientific problem of the eighteenth and three prior centuries: determining how a captain could pinpoint his ship's location at sea. All too often throughout the ages of exploration, voyages ended in disaster when crew and cargo were either lost at sea or destroyed upon the rocks of an unexpected landfall. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of nations hung on a resolution to the longitude problem.
To encourage a solution, governments established prizes for anyone whose method or device proved successful. The largest reward of £20,000-- truly a king's ransom-- was offered by Britain's Parliament in 1714. The scientific establishment-- from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton-- had been certain that a celestial answer would be found and invested untold effort in this pursuit. By contrast, John Harrison imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that told perfect time at sea, known today as the chronometer. Harrison's trials and tribulations during his forty-year quest to win the prize are the culmination of this remarkable story.
The Illustrated Longitude brings a new and important dimension to Dava Sobel's celebrated story. It contains the entire original narrative of Longitude, redesigned to accompany 183 images chosen by William Andrewes-- from portraints of every important figure in the story to maps and diagrams, scientifc instruments, and John Harrison's remarkable sea clocks themselves. Andrewes's elegant captions and sidebars on scientific and historical events tell their own story of longitude, paralleling and illuminating Sobel's memorable tale.
Dava Sobel's Longitude tells the story of how 18th-century scientist and clockmaker William Harrison solved one of the most perplexing problems of history--determining east-west location at sea. This lush, colorfully illustrated edition adds lots of pictures to the story, giving readers a more satisfying sense of the times, the players, and the puzzle. This was no obscure, curious difficulty--without longitude, ships often found themselves so far off course that sailors would starve or die of scurvy before they could reach port. When a nationally-sponsored contest offered a hefty cash prize to the person who could develop a method to accurately determine longitude, the race was on. In the end, the battle of accuracy--and wills--fought between Harrison and arch-rival Maskelyne was ruthless and dramatic, worthy of a Hollywood feature film. Longitude's story is surprising and fascinating, offering a window into the past, before Global Positioning Satellites made it look easy. --Therese Littleton
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