The illustrated longitude : the true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time

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.

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.

dava Sobel Is The Author Of The Best-sellers longitude And galileo's Daughter, And The Editor And Translator Of letters To Father. She Lives In East Hampton, New York. william J. H. Andrewes Is A Museum Consultant Specializing In The History Of Scientific Instruments And Time Measurement. He Is The Editor Of the Quest For Longitude And Lives In Concord, Massachusetts.

praise For the Illustrated Longitude

two Respected Tellers Of The Longitude Tale Have Teamed Up! Sobel 's Compelling Prose Is Coupled With Colorful And Detailed Illustrations Provided By Andrewes. This Edition Responds To Entreaties By Readers Who Loved Sobel's longitude But Who Wanted Pictures To Go With It.— mercator's World

enormous Care Has Been Devoted To The Illustrations And Captions. Readers Will Finish This Book Considerably More Educated About Geography And Navigation.— usa Today

this New Illustrated Edition Of Sobel's 1995 Study Of Harrison's Remarkable Instrument Strikingly Illuminates This Largely Unknown But Crucial Discovery.— dallas Morning News

praise For longitude

as Much A Tale Of Intrigue As It Is Of Science .... A Book Full Of Gems For Anyone Interested In History, Geography, Astronomy, Navigation, Clockmaking, And— Not The Least— Plain Old Human Ambition And Greed.— philadelphia Inquirer

intricate And Elegant .... No Novelist Could Improve On The Elements Of Dava Sobel's longitude.— newsweek

anyone With An Interest In History Or Things Maritime Should Consider longitude. This Fascinating Volume Brings Alive The Eighteenth Century.— usa Today

nearly Perfect Prose And A Magnificent Story, An Extraordinary Book.— washington Post Book World

entertainment Weekly

beautifully Written.

Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 2 Frontispiece......Page 3 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments vi......Page 7 Introduction vii......Page 8 1. Imaginary Lines 1......Page 10 2. The Sea Before Time 15......Page 24 3. Adrift in a Clockwork Universe 27......Page 36 4. Time in a Bottle 43......Page 52 5. Powder of Sympathy 51......Page 60 6. The Prize 63......Page 72 7. Cogmaker's Journal 75......Page 84 8. The Grasshopper Goes to Sea 93......Page 102 9. Hands on Heaven's Clock 107......Page 116 10. The Diamond Timekeeper 121......Page 130 11. Trial by Fire and Water 137......Page 145 12. A Tale of Two Portraits 151......Page 159 13. The Second Voyage of Captain James Cook 165......Page 172 14. The Mass Production of Genius 179......Page 186 15. In the Meridian Courtyard 197......Page 204 Illustration sources and credits 211......Page 217 Bibliography 214......Page 220 Index 215......Page 221 Back Cover......Page 224