Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Sobel, Dava

The dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of one man's forty-year obsession to find a solution to the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day--"the longitude problem."

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. One man, John Harrison, in complete opposition to the scientific community, 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.

Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking, and opens a new window on our world.

Author: Dava Sobel
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 11/01/2007
Pages: 208
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 7.38h x 4.66w x 0.59d
ISBN: 9780802715296

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 9.7
Point Value: 7
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 16829 / Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

About the Author

Dava Sobel is the bestselling author of Longitude, Galileo's Daughter, and The Planets, coauthor of The Illustrated Longitude, and editor of Letters to Father. She lives in East Hampton, New York.