The quest for longitude

Most people don't know the difference between Latitude and Longitude. Latitude lines are the horizontal ones that cross the earth and longitude are the ones that are vertical:
Finding latitude is easy if you have a sextant and know how to use it it is easy. The problem is longitude. Before we had satellites and accurate clocks, longitude was impossible to find and ships often got lost at sea. This led the British government to offer what is now millions of dollars to any person who could find it at sea. Many people came up with ideas, from using eclipses to telepathic goats (look it up). None of them worked, until Harrison, an amateur clockmaker tried to create an accurate clock that wasn't affected by temperature and didn't use a pendulum. After 4 versions, he finally created a pocket watch that was more accurate than was required by the prize. He didn't receive all the prize money until he was old and his original clocks were broken. If you want to explore more, you can read this amazing book that I loved called: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. Definetly worth it.

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