Board of Longitude

Board of Longitude

The acid test for the Board of Longitude was the accuracy of a timekeeper at sea over time. In 1598 King Philip III of Spain (ruled 1598–1621) offered a considerable life pension to the discoverer of longitude.

Literature

• Andrewes, William J. H., ed. The Quest for Longitude. Cambridge, Mass., 1996.
• Bedini, Silvio A. The Pulse of Time: Galileo Galilei, the Determination of Longitude, and the Pendulum Clock. Florence, 1991.
• Gould, Rupert T. John Harrison and His Timekeepers. London, 1978.
• Howse, Derek. Greenwich Time and the Discovery of Longitude. London, 1997.
• Landes, David. Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World. Cambridge, Mass., 1983.
• Quill, Humphrey. John Harrison, the Man Who Found Longitude. London, 1966.
• Sobel, Dava. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. New York, 1995.
• Sobel, Dava, and William J. H. Andrewes. The Illustrated Longitude. New York, 1998.
• Taylor, E. G. R. The Haven-Finding Art: A History of Navigation from Odysseus to Captain Cook. London, 1971