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

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

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Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
  • Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time - Paperback

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

by Dava Sobel
$17.99
$17.99

Book Overview

by Dava Sobel (Author)

The dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of one man's forty-year obsession to find a solution to the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day--"the longitude problem."

Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day-and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. One man, John Harrison, in complete opposition to the scientific community, dared to imagine a mechanical solution-a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land.

Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking, and opens a new window on our world.

Author Biography

Dava Sobel is the bestselling author of Longitude, Galileo's Daughter, and The Planets, coauthor of The Illustrated Longitude, and editor of Letters to Father. She lives in East Hampton, New York.

Number of Pages: 208
Dimensions: 0.59 x 7.38 x 4.66 IN
Illustrated: Yes
Publication Date: November 01, 2007
Accelerated Reader:
Quiz Name: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
Interest Level: Upper Grades, 9-12
Reading Level: 9.7
Point Value: 7
ISBN9780802715296
Author Dava Sobel
PublisherBloomsbury USA
GenreBiography and Technology
FormatPaperback
PublishedNovember 2007
LanguageENG- English
Pages208
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceTeens & young adults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Biography & Autobiography Nonfiction Technology & Engineering Transportation

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About Dava Sobel

Dava Sobel is the author of the international bestseller Longitude, the bestselling Pulitzer Prize finalist Galileo's Daughter, The Planets, A More Perfect Heaven, And the Sun Stood Still, and The Glass Universe, and co-author of The Illustrated Longitude. She is the recipient of the Individual Public Service Award from the National Science Board, the Bradford Washburn Award, the Kumpke-Roberts Award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among other honors. A former New York Times science reporter, and currently editor of the "Meter" poetry column in Scientific American, she lives on Long Island.

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