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Book Review, © Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
Subtitled "The true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time," with the appropriate capital letters. This is a delightful book. It is the story of John Harrison (1693-1776) who made the world's most accurate oceangoing clocks. And it is the story of longitude, the measurement of which often slipped beyond the grasp of mariners, resulting in ships being dozens, even hundreds, of miles off course. The further result of this was the sinking of ships and great loss of life. And it is the story of astronomer Nevil Maskelyne who was charged with testing Harrison's clocks, and who refused to admit that these clocks kept good time. And it is the story of a great monetary prize for the solution to the longitude puzzle, a prize which Harrison earned, but was not paid until he was 83 years of age. The committee created to award the prize never awarded Harrison the prize, the king and Parliament had to intervene. It is quite a story.
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