[HN Gopher] The Principles of Mr. Harrison's Time-Keeper
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       The Principles of Mr. Harrison's Time-Keeper
        
       Author : surprisetalk
       Score  : 50 points
       Date   : 2024-11-10 12:11 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (incoherency.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (incoherency.co.uk)
        
       | nuz wrote:
       | Also cool from the same site:
       | https://incoherency.co.uk/blog/stories/diaphragm-piston-air-...
        
       | pbrowne011 wrote:
       | A decent, short book on the historical story behind H4 (and the
       | rest of Mr. Harrison's time-keepers) is "Longitude: The True
       | Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem
       | of His Time" by Dava Sobel. It goes into the longitude
       | competition, the people involved, and how Harrison was able to
       | (eventually) win with his timekeepers.
        
         | technothrasher wrote:
         | Yes, Sobel's book is a great introductory read that gives a
         | nice overview of the events. "The Marine Chronometer, Its
         | History and Development", by Rupert Gould is a good one to
         | continue reading the technical story of the chronometers
         | themselves, from Harrison's time up through the early 20th
         | century.
        
         | throw0101d wrote:
         | > _"Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the
         | Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time" by Dava Sobel._
         | 
         | Good two-part mini-series that's based on the book (Jeremy
         | Irons, Michael Gambon):
         | 
         | * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_(TV_series)
        
         | ethbr1 wrote:
         | Read it after a previous recommendation on HN, and it's one of
         | the most interesting and effectively-written books I've ever
         | read.
         | 
         | Sobel did a great job in editing down the history to an
         | engrossing tale, even if you're not the type of person who
         | would normally be interested in marine chronography.
         | 
         | Made me appreciate the differences between the before-clock and
         | after-clock worlds.
        
       | ghaff wrote:
       | One of the interesting things, as I understand it, is that while
       | Harrison's chronometer certainly worked well it wasn't widely
       | deployed because of its cost. It was mostly after much cheaper
       | chronometers were developed that they became more or less
       | universally used.
        
       | shizcakes wrote:
       | If you haven't seen it, here's a great and funny video from Map
       | Men about the Longitude problem and Harrison's timekeepers:
       | https://youtu.be/3mHC-Pf8-dU?si=OK684LLRseJETrz_
        
       | jeifnwjfik wrote:
       | It's really difficult to imagine in 2024 just how much H4 changed
       | the world...and Harrison was a carpenter from the country who
       | taught himself everything about clock and watch-making! Blows me
       | away.
        
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       (page generated 2024-11-10 23:00 UTC)