Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time

by Dava Sobel

For lack of a practical method of determining longitude, every great captain in the Age of Exploration became lost at sea despite the best available charts and compasses.

no ship owned a reliable means for establishing her whereabouts.

In the course of their struggle to find longitude, scientists struck upon other discoveries that changed their view of the universe. These include the first accurate determinations of the weight of the Earth, the distance to the stars, and the speed of light.

It was of its age but ahead of its time, and when it came along, the world was already weary of waiting for it.

In comparison, John Harrison offered the world a little ticking thing in a box. Preposterous!