Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time is written by Dava Sobel. The book is called Longitude because it is about a clock maker who was able to determine longitude. Determining longitude was the superlative scientific question in the eighteenth century that Galileo and Newton were not able to resolve. The principal inspiration behind the invention completed in this book is that many sailors were lost at seas as a result of their ignorance regarding longitude. So, without the competence to determine longitude, many innocent lives were disintegrated at seas. England’s Parliament was desperate for an answer to this problem. So, in 1714 England’s Parliament …show more content…

As a result, Harrison completed H-5. H-5 had all the internal complexity of H-4 but presumed an uneven outward appearance. At first, when this watch was tested it failed, but the king extended the period of trial and H-5 proved to be successful. Jeremy Thacker of Beverly, England developed a device to find longitude “in the sound of cannon blasts, in compass needles heated by fire, in the moon’s motion, in the sun’s elevation. Thacker developed a new clock established in a vacuum. Thacker called the device Chronometer. This timekeeping instrument had two special features. First, it was glass sealed. Second, inside the glass there was a vacuum chamber. Even though the vacuum chamber provided insulation against the effects of heat and cold, it did not display perfection. For instance, it did not adjust to temperature. The difference between the new invention and previous attempts the clock (ancient) was not as accurate as the chronometer. The timekeeping of the clock was affected by weather, humidity, temperature, etc… For example, if the temperature was hot the metal expands and if the temperature is cold the metal shrinks. On the other hand, the chronometer was glass protected and vacuum-sealed which made the device invulnerable to temperature. In conclusion, the problem of determining longitude was solved after forty years. As I have mention before, John Harrison