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Longitude : the True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Sobel, Dava is a science book available to read on EtoBox.

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Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that the longitude problem was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day -- and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives, and the increasing fortunes of nations, hung on a resolution.<p>The quest for a solution had occupied scientists and their patrons for the better part of two centuries when, in 1714, England's Parliament upped the ante by offering a king's ransom ([pound]20,000, or approximately $12 million in today's currency) to anyone whose method or device proved successful. Countless quacks weighed in with preposterous suggestions. The scientific establishment throughout Europe -- from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton -- had mapped the heavens in both hemispheres in its certain pursuit of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution -- a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land.</p><p> Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest

Who reads Longitude : the True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time?

Author

Sobel, Dava

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Published

2005

Language

EN

ISBN

9780802779434

Category

science

Subjects

Fiction, Memoir, Astronomy

Rating

3.95 / 5 (369 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-13