Marine Chronometer and Longitude Essays

There were many tools that were created during the age of exploration such as a device used by sailors to help them find their way. This device was the magnetic compass which was the sailors first application of magnetism and one of the oldest scientific instruments. Lastly, a caravel which is a small, fast Spanish or Portuguese sailing ship of the 15th–17th centuries, was invented that has multiple masts that could take advantage of whatever wind was available.

Longitude by Dava Sobel was a book that explained in great detail the struggle to find longitude at sea and way it was so necessary. Sobel talked about the tragedies that followed with not finding longitude at sea and then the discoveries and trials that had occurred to find a final solution. Throughout the book, you understand the urgent need to find longitude why it was so hard, and what it really took in order to come to the final discovery. As you read through this paper you will get an understanding of the topics Sobel talked about in her book such as, the shipwrecks and tragedies that occurred without longitude at sea, the two competing methods to find longitude and the man who discovered it.

Throughout his tireless research, Galileo made a startling realization. While observing the earth’s tide Galileo deduced- using his

Adams, 1851. The people that lived in the colonies thought that it went against the constitution and

Charles I was the King of England. Charles I played favorites and chose the Duke of Buckingham as his main advisor against the parliaments say. Because Charles did many things on his own accord the parliament was forced to create the nineteen proposals. It was never put into action, and caused many problems.

states, or colonies. It was brought to Congress on July 12, 1776 and the approved version was

Galileo was an Italian mathematician and astronomer who developed an improved telescope. He made observations the undermined established understandings of the cosmos. His discovery of Jupiter and many new stars, suggested a cosmos far larger than the finite universe of traditional astronomy. He published his remarkable findings in a book titled The Starry Messenger. (Ways of the World, 557-559)

Halfway through the 18th-century colonists started to question British Parliament. They began to move away from English practices and they began to create and develop their own ideas. For

He used a hand bearing compass, pointed at a lighthouse or some other landmark and looked across the lubber’s line into the bowl, taking bearings of two or more objects, and reading the direction or bearing of that object, off of the compass. Then, he plotted them onto his chart. Where the lines crossed, was where he was. It was that simple. The GPS was for his clients. It made them feel better, not him.

Honda-san urged the Japanese emperor and his government to emulate the Europeans system. “Nevertheless, it was the prowess of these particular Europeans in the shipping and trade, dependent on a scientific and mathematical knowledge of navigation, that most interested Honda (Source 21.2, Honda, Toshiaki, in Patterns of World History, Vol. 2, p. S21-11)” Honda admired the way the European mastered shipping and trade through the use of scientific and mathematical knowledge. The Japanese wanted to take initiative, they wanted to prevent their ships from continuing on getting lost in the sea from merely depending on landmarks and mountains for navigation. Honda thought his country needed improvement, he suggested if they developed the methods of navigation, they would reduce the amount of rice and other foods lost at sea (Source 21.2, Honda, Toshiaki, in Patterns of World History, Vol. 2, p. S21-12). Which would greatly benefit the nation’s wealth and stabilize the prices of rice and other food products throughout Japan. Therefore, Honda-san required the Japanese’s to gain knowledge of astronomy and mathematics in order to ensure Japans

Annotated Bibliography: Galileo Galilei By Mitchell D’India Shea, William R., and Mariano Artigas. Galileo in Rome: The Rise and Fall of a Troublesome Genius. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003. Print. A unique retelling of the six times Galileo traveled into Rome and fought for the theories Copernicus brought forward.

Dava Sobel is the author of Longitude: The true story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. She also wrote Galileo’s Daughter, The Planets, and A More Perfect Heaven. She was born in The Bronx, New York, and attended Binghamton University. She tried her hand at teaching at the University of Chicago, and was a judge for a prestigious science writing award. She loves Solar Eclipses and is willing to go wherever is needed to see them.

In summer of 1609, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) pointed his revolutionary astronomical telescope to the heavens under the starry Venetian sky; his greatly important observations unveiled the mysteries of universe and would end up changing the course of scientific thought forever. Galileo lived in an age where there was much status quo, when scientists and philosophers would accept scientific and religious doctrine that had stood for hundreds, if not thousands, of years instead of challenging the accepted knowledge in favor of intellectual progress. Galileo’s scientific methods lead to significant discoveries explaining key scientific laws, such as the

Prior to the Age of Discovery, Europeans have enhanced their technology and increased their geographical knowledge. In the past, European navigated through the seas by observing their environment or by using portolan charts to guide them through them the Mediterranean sea. However, because of Prince Henry the Navigator, Europeans were able to travel farther with much more accuracy. Henry designed a nautical map which helped explorers travel away from shore without the possibility of being lost. This gave them the opportunity to discover more land, past their usual limits seen in the portolan charts. Not only was he able to create an efficient map, he also taught others the knowledge

This essay examines the question: How does GPS rely on geometry and trigonometry now that there are satellites? Has the function of geometry and trigonometry in triangulation and navigation changed since satellites were