Board of Longitude
The Board of Longitude was convened by the British Parliament in 1714 after the sinking of a fleet near the Isles of Scilly due to a navigation error. The task of the committee was to issue research contracts and award prizes for the solution of the length problem . Half of the committee consisted of mathematicians and astronomers as well as representatives of the Admiralty, the military navy and merchant shipping, and the other half of parliamentarians and representatives appointed by the Commons. A viable solution to the length problem was awarded £ 20,000, with the prize money being reduced depending on the accuracy of the method found and accepted: £ 20,000 with an accuracy of less than half a degree and £ 20,000 with an accuracy of up to a full degree still £ 10,000. The Board of Longitude first met in 1737 when John Harrison presented his watch as the solution.
After the problem was resolved, the committee was dissolved in 1828 and replaced by the Resident Committee for Scientific Advice for the Admiralty (' Committee for Scientific Advice for the Admiralty ').
literature
- Dava Sobel : Longitude . btb Taschenbuch, 1998, ISBN 3-442-72318-3 (Illustrated Edition, ISBN 3-8270-0364-4 .) (Orig .: "Longitude", 1995).
- Philippe Despoix: Measure the world . Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-8353-0485-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Acts of Parliament and awards . Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
- ^ Commissioners of Longitude . Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
- ↑ Alexi Baker: Longitude Acts . In: Longitude Essays . University of Cambridge . July 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2017.