skip to content
Longitude : the true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time Preview this item
ClosePreview this item
  • Preview this Item (Questia)

Longitude : the true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time

Author: Dava Sobel
Publisher: New York : Walker, 1995.
Edition/Format:   Book : Biography : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
The story of mariners' centuries-long search for ways of determining longitude that tells not only of the scientific advances but of the perseverance, pettiness, politics, & interesting anecdotes involved. Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest, and of John Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery,  Read more...
Rating:

based on 1 rating(s) 1 with a review

 

Find a copy in the library

Retrieving... Finding libraries that hold this item...

Details

Named Person: John Harrison; John (Uhrmacher) Harrison
Material Type: Biography
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Dava Sobel
ISBN: 0802713122 9780802713124
OCLC Number: 32469232
Description: viii, 184 p. ; 20 cm.
Contents: Imaginary lines --
Sea before time --
Adrift in a clockwork universe --
Time in a bottle --
Powder of sympathy --
Prize --
Cogmaker's journal --
Grasshopper goes to sea --
Hands on Heaven's clock --
Diamond timekeeper --
Trial by fire and water --
Tale of two portraits --
Second voyage of Captain James Cook --
Mass production of genius --
In the Meridian Courtyard.
Responsibility: Dava Sobel.
More information:

Abstract:

The story of mariners' centuries-long search for ways of determining longitude that tells not only of the scientific advances but of the perseverance, pettiness, politics, & interesting anecdotes involved. Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest, and of John Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery, brilliance and the absurd, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking. Through Dava Sobel's consummate skill, Longitude will open a new window on our world for all who read it.

Reviews

User-contributed reviews

WorldCat User Reviews (1)

Longitude: the true story of a lone genius who solved ...

by wppalmer (WorldCat user published 2011-03-30) Excellent Permalink

Longitude: the true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time by Dava Sobel. London: Fourth Estate.
Review by Bill Palmer

This was one of the most enjoyable books I had read in a long while. It is a short book of 175 pages in a good sized print....
Read more...  Read more...

  • Was this review helpful to you?
  •   
Retrieving weRead reviews...
Retrieving GoodReads reviews...
Retrieving Amazon reviews...

Tags

All user tags (3)

View most popular tags as: tag list | tag cloud

Confirm this request

You may have already requested this item. Please select Ok if you would like to proceed with this request anyway.

Close Window

Please sign in to WorldCat 

Don't have an account? You can easily create a free account.