While in Greenwich I stopped over at the Royal Observatory and was able to see the famous Harrison clocks built by John Harrison as part of the race to find longitude. I had read the book Longitude by Dava Sobel as one of my book review choices. It was interesting to actually see the clocks that I had read about. The about image shows H4, the fourth of Harrison's clocks and the most successful at keeping time. The other clock on display looks like a complex steam engine with so many intricate parts (something like 700 individual hand crafted parts on one of the clocks) it's amazing to think that they were built in the 18th century. The chronometers that came of use because of Harrisons efforts allowed for the Royal Navy to use complex and accurate navigational techniques, certainly aiding in the rise of the British Empire. The main problem in determing longitude for all those years was an inability to keep accurate time, which have allowed the charting of location. Harrison's clocks solved that problem.
http://www.harmonics.com/lucy/lsd/h4.gif
Hey, T, interesting post! I tried to post on your last entry but for some reason there was an error message...I was just going to say that seeing the clocks probably made that book come alive....
ReplyDeleteTrev your going to all the places I'd love to go. Now I know you can really see this stuff so when we move over here I can actually do it. How are the others doing, are they having fun? How many do you have with you?
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