The Clock That Changed the World (BBC History of the World)
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Of international scientific importance, the Harrison Clock is only one of only three precision pendulum clocks made by John Harrison and instrumental in solving the Longitude problem. The clock was made in 1727 with an amazing fully working wooden mechanism. Plans are in place to display it as part of an interpretive display at Leeds City Museum.
With thanks to the BBC
After almost 40 years at sea i’m now retired. 3 weeks ago i climbed the stairs up to the Royal observatory at Greenwich. Came all the way from my small town in Norway to tick off one of the items on my bucket list; To see with my own eyes the clocks of John Harrison. Not the sole purpose of my visit to London but still an emotional moment
I only did that v recently and I’m 🇬🇧, those clocks, the Royal Observatory and The other attractions at Greenwich are well worth a visit
This is awesome.
I read Longitude and went to Greenwhich from Australia to see Harrison’s watch.
I also am from Australia and went to Greenwich, without knowing the history attached to the clocks. Being young, I was smitten with the Cutty Sark and Gipsy Moth IV, Sir Francis Chichester’s yacht.
Enjoy your well-earned retirement
John Harrison born 24th March, died 24th March. Perfect timing.
show off ...
That's a perfect epitaph for him. :)
what
It took me a second to realize the perfect timing one, we're making clock joke wow I didn't even realize until now honestly.
I really hope that's written on his grave 😀
John Harrison is an unsung hero to whom a vast number of sea-farers owe their lives. I am one of them. We used his chronometers in the 1950’s to keep track of the position of my US Navy destroyer in the Pacific Ocean. Harrison’s education was limited; his energy boundless. The book, “Longitude” by Dava Sobel celebrated his struggles with the bureaucracy and was made into a TV series well worth watching.
A true unsung hero was the German astronomer Tobias Mayer who developed “The method of lunar distance” for finding longitude at sea years before the Harrison Chronometer. When Lieutenant James Cook Conducted his first voyages of exploration he used this method. Tobias Mayer's was the first method of finding longitude outside of using the “time stamp” of a lunar eclipse which worked only during eclipses on land but served to locate the land mass and give a datum for map makers. Tobias Mayer submitted his tables and method to his University of Göttingen in 1752 and in 1755 he submitted them to the Royal Society and French Academy. The Longitude board in Britain was established to compile more accurate tables. (Parliament was so greatfull they voted Mayer's widow 3000 pounds, about 500,000 in today’s terms) Chronometers were expensive and unreliable so most ships navigated for 150 years without chronometers or had the almanac and ephemera as a backup. All of the great discoveries were made with Tobias methods. Cook was accurate to about 1 nautical mile with a chronometer and about 50 with lunar distance. The laboriousness of the work of compiling these tables induced Charles Babbage to try and develop a mechanical digital computer called the difference engine to calculate them.
David Murphy Hi, a US Navy Destroyer..., I’ve just watched again the story of Taffy 3..., where ....😳lol these crazy ships termed ”US Destroyers” took on the Japanese Centre Force......, I’m guessing their good ships the crew if you want to get wet or involved in taking on fights that are completely over the top😂👍
I was in the United States Coast Guard in the Vietnam Era and was fascinated by time and its relationship to navigation. I agree "Longitude" was a great book and detailed Harrisons struggle against the government.
William, with respect, there's one issue with your chronology. Can you check those dates, please? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the dates are barely credible, so you might have made an error. Mayer would have to be well over 100 years old in 1855, because that's 85 years after James Cook set foot in Botany Bay, in 1770. Mayer would have had to let the British Admiralty, and thus Cook, have his ideas a year or two before 1770, so he would have been only 13 years old in 1768, for him to be 'only' a centenarian when he made his gift to the university. A young German, aged less than about 20, would be unlikely to gain the ear of British officials at that time. Thanks.
@@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs Thanks for the very enlightening comment. I had to pause the video when I read your comment was more interesting than the original video.... Now I've got some googling and reading to do as the lunar distance method was new to me. It's always a good day when you get to learn something new!
I am from near Boston, Massachusetts USA. The family of my best childhood friend had an old tall case clock (grandfather clock) that had wooden clockworks. To keep it lubricated, a small saucer of kerosene was placed up in the clockworks portion. The vapors kept everything lubricated.
Old time cure for an wind-up watch was to leave it open over a jar of parafin/kerosene...the vapour would clean it out and lubricate it and...usually the watch was working again.
John Harrison.. Born at Foulby.. A small village 9 miles from where I am sitting this minute; This man is a hero on an epic world level and I feel proud to have him as a local to myself
As an ex Navy man l always found this time, navigation fascinating. What a marvellous intelligent man.
I read the book about longitude, great book. The true reason the board did not want to give him the money was because he was a lower class commoner NOT like the board who were all upper class and wanted one of THEIR own class to win.
They were and still are to some extent, pretty demented regarding class.
Wrong, they invested a lot of time on an alternative. They wanted to use stars and maths so every captain could figure where they where without a very expensive clock. nothing to do with class.
I really enjoyed the book about these clocks. Fantastic story
@@vespasian266when the navy and the world wanted a solution.. Harrison provided it.. Just like Frank Whittle, Harrison was treated to high brow foolishness that got in the way of the progress of mankind
Being Canadian, I'm no big fan of any peerage, but apparently the King stepped in. The "wanna-be king" types can we more conservative than the ruler. Something similar with Louis 15, I believe-he wanted the "nobility" of France to pay taxes, and they didn't, which led to the French revolution of Louis 16.
John Harrison is one of VERY few real-world cases where a lone genius legitimately revolutionized their entire field.
*revolutioniSed
@@adolflenin4973 *incorrect! Go read the OED: "-ize" It will tell you that "-ise" is an "acceptable alternative" spelling. It's an example of inverse snobbery that sprang up in my youth back in the mid to late 70's; someone in media, who wasn't so certain in their education (specifically spelling in their English Language) because they went to lower quality modern comprehensive school, looked at American spelling, saw that over there they _always_ use the "-ize" ending, decided (ignorantly) that they always get things wrong, and that "therefore we must spell it -ise." It was an increasingly prevalent opinionated problem at the time and I remember the instance of the spelling change increasing throughout my childhood. But in my first job out of Uni I took up as a Quality Manager (BS 5750 which became ISO 9000) and was introduced to the world of Standards documents from the BSI, in which all instances of words such as "organize" and "authorize" remained spelled the traditional "correct" way, and has been until recent years. (Look at a selection of published Standard today and you will find some using "-ise" endings because it is now the prevalent spelling but some still using "-ize" because they haven't needed replacing whole-scale so consistent spelling is maintained within. Given the number of standards I have to read today, I believe the BSI has greatly relaxed their style guide to allow authors to choose whatever spelling they like and various styles of grammar that would have been frowned upon 20 years ago...)
'If you cannot be bothered to exercise the minimum amount of courtesy to your reader - making your opinion as digestible as possible for them - then why should the reader be bothered to read your opinion? You obviously do not respect your own opinion enough to package it correctly, so why should anyone else?' - every prof in every university. I thought that goes extremely well with the OP blaming lower quality schools - an ironical explosion is the only way to describe what is happening here.
@@Dranok1 English is British
@Adolf Lenin Determined to be wrong, I see. American English is still English ya daft git.
Can't stop thinking about the Harrison Clock auction room scene in 'Only Fools and Horses'...
That a movie ?? :)
As a clockmaker myself it is so refreshing to hear a man who actually knows the meaning of the word "cogs" (11.26)
The segment where they threw the tin can over the back of the boat (they did mention the log) was actually carried out with a log of a set size. This was known as the captains log and was carried out every hour to measure the number of “knots” that the ship was travelling at. Our phrases now for “keeping a log” and “logging on” come from this.
I drop a log just about every morning.
Many thanks for sharing this. I do not own a TV set and have been persecuted by the BBC for five years to purchase a TV licence. They cannot believe l don't own or rent one. Even just to watch iplayer you still need a licence, the grasping front and back studs! So this is a treat to watch something from them for free!
It's perfectly easy to register as a household that doesn't require a licence for renewable two year periods, which would stop licence fee reminders or any visits from enforcement officers, and spare you from your victim complex. But this programme was made with money from licence fee payers, so if you enjoy BBC TV programmes, why not buy a licence?
switch to islam and the bbc will not bother you.
Im from the USA. I've never heard of a TV License. What is that exactly?
@@robert-zj7efyou need a license to drive and you need a license to watch TV .it applies specifically to watch BBC but the government will track you even if you watch independent channels
Seems like it's the simple folk that impact the world most with their inventions, like Mr. Harrison and the Wright brothers. Very interesting. Thanks for posting.
Another little known engineer to look up, pertinent to the Wright Brothers, is Charles E. Taylor, their “mechanician.”
Man this is just totally amazing , unbelievable how intelligent this man truly was . You never here about this man in history when in fact he was one of the most important persons of the past . Wow and his clocks were beautiful. Great video thankyou
*This* is the kind of video I long for on YT.
Here in America most of the kids cannot read a clock with hands. I adopted three from foster care and their argument was they have cell phones and so do not need to know how to tell time. It is now three years later and they are all doing pretty well.
I saw a Harrison clock once. It was a replica, but it had been made in the same way as the original. It was an amazing piece of art.
John Harrison and Hedy la Mar are the reasons we know where we are today...just amazing. Wonderful Doc!
The Greenwich observatory museum has one or two of the Harrison clocks - I saw them there about 20 years ago - well worth a visit!
The hush and the respect shown to H1, H2 and H3 is palpable. I made sure my sons understood the magnitude of the objects in front of them. Far better than the Crown Jewels across the Thames.
Another good book about the history of determining longitude is " finding longitude" by Richard Dunn.
Me too. 💛💙
Ive always enjoyed watching Adam Hart Davis and his documentaries. He didn't over complicate his programmes but also didn't treat the viewers as an idiot. I'm surprised he didn't mention that brilliantly funny/poignant episode of "only fools and horses" where they find a Harrison watch, they think it's scrap but it's worth millions. Just love both programmes.
James Burke covered this invention in one of his programmes, as well as the mainspring used in future naval clocks.The story of the metal used for the mainspring is a story in itself.
When the BBC made an abundance of quality programmes.
I see AHD is now 79 .... and a big miss from our TV screens.
@@notrut He reminds me of Tim Hunkin, who did Secret Life of Machines years ago. You can watch him on KZhead as well!
He was Born at Nostel in the West Riding of Yorkshire At Nostell Priory they still have one of his Clocks on display.
As a young 16 year old I went into the British MN,...those British officers educated me over the three years ...Harrison was talked about with some reverence....those officers were some of the most educated people I have ever encountered....they instilled in me a life long ethic of learning....books, the sciences....the wonder of the universe and everything in between..
One of Harrison's chronometers is in the Clock Museum in Rockford, Illinois USA, not far from Chicago.
to be a good teacher ,it's not just presenting information ,its making it interesting to the individual so you have their attention and focus .you have that gift .great doco .
This is one of the most interesting stories in the history of technology.
I remember during my time onboard the USCGC BIBB (WHEC-31) how important time documentation was. Even the Engineering watches documented very accurate watch recordings. I wish that I had snagged the ships clock in C1 before she was decommissioned and sank as a fishing/diving reef in Key West. I would have recorded Greenwhich Mean Time at the moment the clock came off the bulkhead and kept that time to this day. The Bibb was a strong lady...can't believe we came home in some of the storms we went out in. She should've become a museum instead of a wreck. Semper Paratus (Always Ready).....Official Coast Guard motto. You HAVE to go,out but you DON'T have to come back....unofficial Coast Guard motto.
Beautifully explained. The longitude problem, the basic three elements of a clock, Harrison's innovations, and GPS, all explained with great clarity. Pedagogy at its finest.
I agree. Watched another video that was all about people, but this one gave me perfect clarity on the problem itself. Thanks.
No problem with it being only me; I think this is the most impressive, informative and fascinating documentary I have ever seen. Utterly compelling. Thank you, Charles Craig
Wow! This was astonishing in so many ways!! The level of skill used with the different woods & his knowledge of how they dry, how oily, they’ll continue to be, etc is mind blowing!! These men were astute on so many levels!! I would love to know what his schooling was & what their father did for a living. This is an amazing story!! Thank you for creating & sharing it!!
That wooden watch is a masterpiece!
6:30 a man was actually hung and killed in the fleet for keeping his own records that contradicted that of the admiral. He was executed for mutiny recording a position that differed than that of the fleet. Shortly after that the entire fleet died from these kind of mistakes. Just look at the K class and the battle of May Island and even the jet turbine and you see that mistakes are never really learned from and always repeated to protect the position or reputation of a group of highly placed yet incompetent people resistant to change.
From here in the States we say "Bravo" and thanks so much for sharing this excellently presented and so professionally produced! Carry on!
AWESOME VIDEO. I've been a life-long clock collector and this was a surprise!!!😄
Absolutely terrific video about Harrison and the search for Longitude! Fantastic video and very well presented! Thanks!
My friends father was a joiner building houses in his early years and built grandfather clocks in retirement and sadly gone now. He built the mechanism on one of his clocks with wooden gears I'd never heard of doing this and thought it was quite novel surely set for future problems with broken teeth etc. Well...looks like I was wrong as we can see here. The horse stable clock running nearly 300 hundred years.. 👏 Well done Jeff, with putting the roof over people's heads and building beautiful time pieces.
A local acquaintance is a long retired clock maker. He recently made several wooden clocks for entry in the local woodworking festival (and subsequent sale.) Like you I was initially skeptical but not anymore! 😉
Wow, My best friend, I liked the video very much, thanks you for sharing, stay safe, stay blessed
A great video about a great man. Thank you
Utterly amazing! This program should be mandatory viewing in science class in every elementary school in the country.
not in elementary but i'm in 8th and we're watching this and doing an assignment for science!!
I saw this program when it was first televised by the BBC back in 2010 and was intrigued by the story. It’s narrative covers many levels historic, human and scientific. I have viewed it many times since and find that it loses none of its interest or appeal, due mostly to Adam Hart-Davies’ particular style of presentation that was factual and practically based. I like the way he placed his hands on the wall of what was thought to be Harrison’s workshop in Barrow 17:02, in that moment, I believe there’s a real sense of reverence in his gesture that shows Adam’s heart felt admiration for the genius of John Harrison.
Wasn't it lovely when the BBC made interesting, well written documentaries instead of propaganda. Next year they are making a series about Harrison, apparently he was actually a black, middle aged, muslim, trans man(pronouns beep, bop, boop). Can't wait!
@@WilfChadwick too right my friend
Sorry to say presentation seems like an ego problem...sorry to see a real fantastic intelling man being degraded by a person of much less intelegt
He's buried in St John's Churchyard Hampstead, London.RIP mastercraftsman and inventor with his son
What a wonderful presentation. Thank you kindly. Time is a wondrous entity.
a small correction: at some point he mentions that GPS uses 3 satellites. Apart from the fact that it practically uses much more than that for verification, even at a theoretical level you need the distances from four points in 3D space so as to know your position. (distances from two points define a circle, from three two positions and from four a single position)
There is much more to this story. For all his skill, perseverance, and inventiveness, Harrison did not think of the spring detent escapement which became the heart of the practical chronometer. The board of Longitude was correct in recognizing that H4 was not easy to replicate. The practical chronometer which served mariners for 200 years was developed by Thomas Earnshaw in London about a decade after Harrison's death. Another 18th century London watchmaker who also produced successful chronometers using a detent escapement somewhat different from Earnshaw's was John Arnold. The object is to let the balance keep the time on it's own, with very little contact with the clock train which provides the power. H4 did not meet this requirement. It was a refined version of the verge watch of the day, in which the escapement is not at all detached from the train.
Boom. Look at you. Mr Knowledge.
Ah but if not for Harrison I wonder how long it would have been before the clock method would have overtaken the method using the moon.
Old video but still wonderful and interesting. Thank you!
It is almost certain that if the Pilgrims/Puritans had had the ability to ascertain longitude, then they would have landed in Virginia and not Massachusetts. It’s highly unlikely that they wanted to sail north during the upcoming autumn/winter months. Virginia was already an established colony and was more than likely the intended destination. The currents undoubtedly took them off course.
Horology is fascinating. And we consider the impact of horology on navigation, it's really fascinating. Consider the impact of longitude on history. Harrison was both a genius engineer and a master craftsman.. The H4 changed everything.
Fascinating documentary, love history and map making, you presented a brilliant demonstration how ancient clocks operate. You have a well earned new subscriber.
Wonderful. The best presentation I've ever seen on this clock.
Thank you for this presentation. In the 1990's I travelled to the Old Royal Observatory in Greenwich to see two things--the Prime Meridian and H4. Saw the red ball in action, too, and more things that made my trip to England worth while.
Dava Sobel's book "Longitude" is a great telling of the story, including the incredible run-around and abuse that Harrison suffered. The Board of Longitude had a screaming conflict of interest in the matter, as it comprised astronomers who wanted their solution adopted. (The moons of Jupiter were involved.)
Great read. The timbers used, tested were also important.
True enough but the lunar distance method wasn’t dependent on a mechanical clock and was used for quite a long time. It worked as well. It wasn’t for quite a long time that ships were routinely fitted with chronometers because they were expensive. You also needed backup in case the clock stopped.
Yes. I enjoyed reading about the ‘events’ regarding the aforementioned book. Perseverance by those involved did facilitate economic progress along with safety. Take care.
I have that book and have read it a number of times. As an Australian I give thanks as this clock and those developed mechanical versions were what enabled Lt, later Cap, James Cook to navigate the the Pacific and map so accurately the East Coast of Australia.
@@michaelhayden725 Hi Michael, a great invention, a great book and did we (as an Englishman) send you to Australia? Joking aside, I really enjoyed the book showing the tenacity of people in the olden days. The money was an incentive too along with notoriety. I recommend “Galileo’s Daughter’ by Dava Sobel, as it is highly informative. Take care.
great bit of history. as a navigator in the USAF, I love it thanks.
Simply wonderful. And I have great memories of performing in the International Medieval Congress in Leeds as well. Subscribed. All the best to you from Vienna, Scott
Fascinates me whenever I read anything about Harrison and the full movie, though long, is well worth the watch.
Absolutely brilliant!
John Harrison - genius, hero, dedicated to progress. Who couldn't love him
The Longitude Board didn't, the tight fisted w@nkers
Exceptional presentation, thank you.
This video is an absolute gem…..thank you so much. All the more relatable by visiting the key locations of this saga. As someone who has just read Dava Sobel’s Longitude and having worked on the GPS Program, I too must visit Greenwich. It’s about time!
Adam is one of the best TV presenters and this doc like all those he did are pure gold, most often these great men like Mr. Harrisson would be unknown without these docs.
Excellent program. John Harrison's marine chronometer, indefatigable character and precision clock making certainly changed the world forever.
fantastic story, a part of history that should be taught today in any engineering class.
Wow, fantastic program. I did not know about wooden clocks and how they work. Thanks
I loved every second of this!
"Longitude", by Dava Sobel should be compulsory reading for all. Incredibly, when she was looking for a publisher to take on the printing and marketing of the book, she couldn't find one! Not one of the publishing houses could see the potential of this remarkable record of John Harrison's struggle to have his genius recognised. Sobel had to self-publish, and the book was an instant sensation, and best seller. So much for the discernment of publishers! The book spent forty weeks at the top of "The New York Times" best seller list, and sold over a million copies in that period alone. It is still available, so if you haven't yet read it, do!
I have it on VHS
My all time favourite book. I love his perseverance.
Excellent documentary. From what I have heard they did not want to give him the prize because he was a 'lowly' working class person and they were upper class 'gentleman'. Gentlemen who couldn't solve the problem unlike our hero!
Thank you for such a great bit of knowledge. I never knew, and I used a sextant and a stopwatch for years.
ADAM HART--DAVIS, HOW GREAT TO SEE HIM AGAIN ON TV. HE WAS A FAMILIAR SCIENTIFIC HISTORIAN ON TV FOR YEARS, THEN SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED. GOOD TO SEE HIM AGAIN, EVEN THOUGH THIS IS DATED 2012. APPARENTLY , ACCORDING TO WIKIPEDIA, HE HAS WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED SCORES OF HISTORIC BOOKS IN THE LAST 30 YEARS
Another forgotten hero, all one hears of are French, Germany and later Swiss clock makers, Harrison should be a household name worldwide. The wonderful move ‘Longitude’ is well worth catching.As is this engaging, interesting, entertaining and informative light hearted piece.
blxtothis Let’s not forget that great Leeds Clockmaker Potts.
As a lifelong gearhead, I've always been fascinated by How Things Work & being "Single" for 69 yrs., I certainly had more time than most, to Study & Research things. I just very recently, watched some YT Vids on How Expensive Watches like Rolex's are Built & Why people pay the $$$ they do for them. I never knew that the Watchmaker's Craft was so precision & complicated & that it took two "steady" hands to do this skill. There is a lot of "mis-information" on the Internet, so I'll have to do a lot more research, before I believe it all! Looks like I just committed myself to ANOTHER field that I just don't have the Time for! 🤣
John Harrison, a practical genius. Watch the movie longitude, very moving. He had to fight the establishment to save thousands of sailors lives.
An amazing bit of work.
First read of this in "Longitude," by Dava Sobel. Fascinating point stuff.
Absolutely fascinating.
How I would love to go to Greenwich and see all that. Years ago I was visiting my nephew, and while waiting for him to finish up some work at his office one afternoon I perused his books and found Dava Sobel’s lovely work ‘Longitude.’ I was immediately captivated by the story, and I finished it just as my nephew was getting back home. Powerful. What a story, what amazing people! I’m enjoying reading the comments from those who’ve spoken of their visit to Greenwich; I’ll never be able to go myself but I’m thrilled for those who have been. For those who haven’t read the book, it’s wonderful to while away part of an afternoon in its company. I’ll be reading it again soon. Thank you for the video!
I've had a knack for knowing what time it is pretty accurately at anytime of day since I was a kid.
This video skips over a question that I've had for years: what changed in moving from a "clock" to a "watch" that allowed another leap in accuracy and reliability? The narrator just says that Harrison, "radically rethought the way watches were made" without providing details or comparing it to his earlier work. It seems counterintuitive because the parts on a watch are smaller but dimensional errors in manufacturing the parts should be the same regardless of size. The expected result is then less accuracy because the error is larger relative to the size of the part.
Harrison’s genius was in the regulation and compensation of the movement. Not easy for a mechanical click to keep regular time on a rolling ship (3D gravity issues) moving between temperatures and humidities ( change in sizes and mechanical behaviour of components )
From vertical to horizontal was the trick...everything else was straight engineering.
@@howler6490 Interesting. I had not heard that before. So a spring to power the mechanism rather than weights. Thank you.
amazing.. Very nice history .. Thank you very much !
You are the kind of human I admire with all my heart.
My dearly departed dad was a U.S. "Army Air Force" navigator in WWII stationed in England. He told me about sextants and liked astronomy. When we went to a New England ship building town, we picked up a reproduction called "The Bold Navigator." I appreciate this beautiful explanation of the roots of navigation. My dad would've loved this! Thanks for keeping my memory of him sparked up with warmth.
He doesn't describe "running down the longitude" where mariners would sail north/south to reach the latitude of their destination well east/west of it. Then sail due east/west maintaining latitude and reach your destination after sailing two sides of a triangle. Harrison allowed direct navigation to destination, saving time and being more precise.
'Running down the longitude' certainly didn't help a lot of British ships bound for Melbourne in the colonial era. Ships of the day would round the Cape of Good Hope, and then pick up the 'roaring forties' to carry them east across the Indian Ocean. But sailing a 'great circle' route meant they dipped down well to the south of Australia, into the 40 degree south latitudes. That meant they had to know their longitude, so they knew when to start veering north-east to find Bass Strait, between Tasmania and Victoria on the mainland. 'Threading the eye of the needle' mariners called it, and many failed. These days the south-west coast of Victoria is called the Shipwreck Coast. The north-west coast of Tasmania, and the islands in the western approaches to Bass Strait are also littered with wrecks.
Extraordinary how the Harrisons knew their clock was accurate to within one second per month. How on earth did they know?
Loved Adam Hart Davis's shows...so much fun and so interesting...and very well presented...They were class.
Your right, hes shows were informative, and interesting, also able to be viewed from a wide age gap, as in kids to adults, i cant think of any current presenters who could achieve that
@@stevemull2002 He also made them fun...which helps keep folks interest..Why we don't see him on tv any more I don't know...shame.
an amazing piece of work. art really.
The movie "Longitude" (2000 - IMDb score: 7.9) w/Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon was produced from the bestselling book by the same name and is virtually a biographic of John Harrison and one of my favorite movies: IMBb: www.imdb.com/title/tt0192263/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1
What a great documentary. Thanks for this.
Thanks for this interesting feature!
I heard about Dava Sorbel's book "Longitude" on public radio in 1995 and bought it. It is a very interesting book detailing all the trials & tribulations that John Harrison endured. The book covers more than just clock development. In attempting to determine longitude in the 1700's men of science accurately determined the speed of light. This was accomplished by watching moons that orbit other planets disappearing behind their planet and reappearing. Then calculating when they should clear the planet and the time needed to be seen again on earth (the difference being the speed of light). Amazingly they had already calculated the distance to the planets. All this in the 1700's. It is all very fascinating and I would encourage everyone to read the book "Longitude". I just reread it this past week on vacation which prompted me to look for videos about the clocks on KZhead.
The illustrated book is especially wonderful.
Harrison.....a person worthy of respect.
Adam Hart-Davis should be back on main stream TV in the UK, great presenter, great content.
This is over 10 years old. He must be close to death by now.
On this very subject.. The tv movie Longitude from 2000 with Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon.. fantastic movie with two excellent actors...
I always wondered why in the movies the captain of the ship would often take out a small pocket watch which usually had a chain on it. I never knew it was because of that until only a few days ago when I was learning about navigation. Quite fascinating and impressive!
I imagine the chain was a safety feature. Have the boat rock the wrong way at the right time (without the chain) and you may very well lose your watch overboard.
This is so cool. How come we don’t hear about this cool clock like we do the light bulb and the airplane? Harrison deserves as much credit as any other inventor in history.
As he said in the video, Harrison died before he could celebrate his victory.
It's the same reason we don't read about the invention of the plow, transistor, radio, and many other things that make life different, but only get covered in obscure TV programs, such as James Burke's "Inventions" or "The Day the Universe Changed." Burke is a science historian, who goes deeper than only the marketing of inventions like Edison did. In fact, the incandescent electric bulb was invented by a Brit decades before Edison did his part.
Just the motivation I need to re-watch "Longitude" with the late great Michael Gambon.
I came here to the comments section to mention Dava Sobel's great book 'Longitude' only to find that many others have beaten me to it. The book is a masterpiece written by someone who is both a born story teller and a great scientific mind. I bought my copy over thirty years ago in a bookshop close by the Cutty Sark in Greenwich just after a visit to Greenwich Observatory where three of John Harrison's timepieces including the H4 are on display.
NOVA: Lost at Sea - The Search for Longitude A much more complete telling of all the hoops Harrison had to jump through and was still snubbed by elites.
Practically a given due to the fact he was dealing with government.
Perfect example of the NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome. No matter how great the product, idea or conclusion; if “I” didn’t think of it, it’s not good enough. If you’re not part of the “approved” group, then I’m sorry but your product isn’t good enough. However, let me change the color of it or add a screw in any blank space and now “mine” is the obvious winner.
@@hiker64012 quite so
I dont think thats on KZhead anymore.been looking for it.
Harrison's final entry was not a "clock" so much as a "watch" - called a chronometer, it was a few inches across (four or five inches I think). By scaling it down he achieved far greater accuracy. It was kept in a locked box during the test voyage and was wound at regular intervals in front of witnesses to insure that there would be no tampering.
The increased accuracy over H1, H2, and H3 wasn't from scaling it down (that was just a side benefit), but from replacing pendulums with an oscillating balance wheel.
IT IS GREAT THAT THE BBC HAS OPENED UP IT'S ARCHIVES to share it wonders, produced wirh licence fees, with the world.
What an interesting show. Thank you.
This is the best documentary I have seen in my life.
Me too. I ejaculated at 26:39, not once, but six times. Today. My shaft is bleeding :(
24:27 Now that is an ironic picture. You have a documentary about an even that took place over 200 years before, and a clear, bright jet liner contrail. Harrison would have been astonished that you could get into a machine that operated 6 to 8 miles above the level of the sea, and move you from one point on Earth, to any other point in less than 1 day, even if that other point was on the exact opposite side of the Earth from where you began. That you could eat Breakfast in London, and get to New York in time for lunch on the same day! When the Concord was still running, you could have Breakfast in London, then arrive in time for breakfast in New York. I know a guy who did exactly this. He had Breakfast in London, flew by Concord to New York *EARLIER* in the day (local time) than when he left!
Harrison's clocks had several innovations not mentioned here - the bi-metal strip, used in home thermostats for many years, the caged roller bearing & friction reducing jeweled movements.
Thanks I’ve gone down the navigation rabbit hole this morning so I’ve been learning about great circle navigation about latitude and longer to chewed or as some people would say parallels and meridians
The watch that made Del Trotters fortune.....:-)