Among the many modern conveniences we take for granted is our location in the world. Look at a map on your phone, and satellites triangulate your location in the form of a little blue dot on the screen. Easy! But centuries ago, things weren't that simple. It was so difficult to know where you were at sea that thousands died in shipwrecks each year. That led many governments to offer a cash prize to anyone who could come up with a solution to this problem. In Britain, that was the 1714 Longitude Prize, and despite the hard work of astronomers, it eventually went to a working-class clockmaker named John Harrison.
Longitude Lost at Sea
A Happy Ending
John Harrison and the Measurement of Longitude
Written by
Ashley Hamer
September 6, 2017
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