Longitude – The true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time. (book review)

Title :-Longitude – The true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time.

By :- David Sobel

Published :- Griffin press, Australia (1995) Paperback (180 pages)

Outline;- The British fleet was on its way home in fog in 1707, and figured it was approaching the channel and headed north only to meet rocks that destroyed much of the fleet. The government inquirers resulted in an open competition, with cash prize, to develop a way to measure longitude. The established scientific gentry started to develop an extensive star chart, and sent ships to various parts of the globe to start a huge complex almanac. Clocks at that time were generally made of wood and set in clock towers. John Harrison a small carpenter made some wooden clocks, and developed a metal clock powered by a spring. This was small enough to sit on the mantle piece. He entered this clock into the completion, and Captain Cook used this and several other clocks on his trip to the Pacific to measure the solar eclipse, and gather star charts. Cook’s opinion was that this clock was by far the best. By the time Cook departed for his second Pacific voyage John had made the clock smaller and better – to a pocket watch size. On return after 2 years Cook acclaimed the watch as being the most suited way to determine Longitude. However the established scientific jury were swayed by their peers to award only part of the prize to Henry, with most going to their star chart friends. John’s watch was in great demand by actual captains, and soon the concept of star charts faded, with the full prize eventually restored to John. The watch became known as the “Omega” and it was soon reproduced in Switzerland and other countries.

A lovely researched book, easy to read and most interesting for popular science readers