In 1714, Parliament offered a purse worth 20,000 Pounds (millions today) to anyone who could solve the longitude problem. Anyone could determine that he was on the tropic of cancer, but determining how far along the tropic of cancer was a different challenge-one that, if solved, would revolutionize navigation and save countless lives. But finding one's longitude, the lines that connected the north and south poles, was much more difficult. The (true) story is great: legendary historical figures like Isaac Newton, Galileo, James Cook, King George III scientific conundrums innovative engineering a ransom of millions at stake and a humble, lone man competing against oppressive and manipulative big-wigs.īackground: Latitude lines are the parallel lines that circle the globe above and below the equator, and any sailor could figure out his latitude by measuring the length of the day or looking at the angle of the sun or the north star. It was the first non-fiction book, I think, that I really couldn't put down. I first read Longitude, by Dava Sobel, just after I finished high school, and I devoured it in a sitting or two.
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