MARC Record from marc_openlibraries_phillipsacademy

LEADER: 02399cam a2200361Ia 4500
001 3468647
003 NOBLE
005 20131203015712.0
008 071213s2007 nyuac b 001 0beng
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020 $a9780802715296 (pbk.)
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043 $ae-uk-en
050 4 $aQB225$b.S64 2007
082 04 $a526.62
049 $aNOGA
100 1 $aSobel, Dava.
245 10 $aLongitude :$bthe true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time /$cDava Sobel ; with a foreword by Neil Armstrong.
260 $aNew York :$bWalker,$c2007.
300 $axiv, 184 p. :$bcol. ill., ports. ;$c19 cm.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520 $aAnyone 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. The quest for a solution had occupied scientists for the better part of two centuries when, in 1714, England's parliament upped the ante by offering a king's ransom (£20,000, or approximately $12 million in today's currency) to anyone whose method or device proved successful and reproducible. The scientific establishment throughout Europe -- from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton -- had mapped the heavens in it 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" --Cover, p. 2.
600 10 $aHarrison, John,$d1693-1776.
650 0 $aClock and watch makers$zEngland$vBiography.
650 0 $aAstronomical clocks$zEngland$xHistory.
650 0 $aHorology.$0(NOBLE)8114
650 0 $aLongitude$xResearch$xHistory.
919 4 $a31867003069346
990 $anobcw 12-03-2013
901 $a3468647$b$c3468647$tbiblio
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