Book ID: CBB757350970

Finding Longitude: How Ships, Clocks and Stars Helped Solve the Longitude Problem (2014)

unapi

Recommended for viewing on colour device.Official publication of the National Maritime Museum's “Ships, Clocks and Stars” exhibition. 300 years ago, amidst growing frustration from the naval community and pressure from the increasing importance of international trade, the British government passed the 1714 Longitude Act. It was an attempt to solve one of the most pressing problems of the age: how to determine a ship’s longitude (east-west position) at sea. With life-changing rewards on offer, the challenge captured the imaginations and talents of astronomers, skilled craftsmen, politicians, seamen and satirists. This beautifully illustrated book is a detailed account of these stories, and how the longitude problem was solved. Highlights of the book include: • Foreword by the fifteenth Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees. • Specially commissioned photographs from the National Maritime Museum’s archive. • A new description of the collaborations and conflicts in a tale of technical creativity, scientific innovation and hard commercialism. From the same publisher as Dava Sobel’s Longitude, Finding Longitude tells a new story of one of the great achievements of the Georgian age, and how it changed our understanding of the world.

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Reviewed By

Review Owen Gingerich (2016) Review of "Finding Longitude: How Ships, Clocks and Stars Helped Solve the Longitude Problem". Journal for the History of Astronomy (pp. 224-225). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB757350970/

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Authors & Contributors
Grijs, Richard de
Shcheglov, Dmitry A.
Arnaud, Pascal
Jiajing Zhang
Spallek, Waldemar
Jacob, Andrew P.
Concepts
Longitude and latitude
Navigation
Cartography
Sea travel
Geography
Maps; atlases
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
Ancient
17th century
Qing dynasty (China, 1644-1912)
Modern
Places
Great Britain
United States
China
Paris (France)
Greenwich (England)
Mediterranean region
Institutions
Great Britain. Board of Longitude
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey
Great Britain. Royal Navy
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