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Centuries-Old Longitude Clock Runs Again
douglips writes "BBC News has published a story about John Harrison's H4 chronometer and how it has been wound up for the UK's National Science Week.
After 40 years of work [Harrison] proved in 1764 that a clock could be used to locate a ship's position at sea with extraordinary accuracy." Ah, the GPS system of its day. T. adds: This is the timekeeping device which Dava Sobel wrote about in Longitude .
Britain should review why USA took tech lead 1800s and 1900s
Of the top 100 most vital inventions from 1850 to 1950 only one was a British and 99 were american inventions.
The one Brirish contribution was the Jet Engine, but they had to "give it away for free" to usa military as part of war debt so essentially it is american in a roundabout way.
Britain spends all its BBC documentary dollars reliving its conquest and Imperial domination empire years again and again.
Oh how british: a perfect clock to win a prize that Britain was unwilling to honor as the prize winner...
They should instead study how Americans patented and created the top 99 technological marvels of the years between 1850 and 1950 and quit being maudlin and nostalgic about the British Empire years.
They are a dying irrelevant kingdom of socialist welfare programs.
Oh thats right everything hostile on slashdot is automatically a troll eh?
Well then do not COMMENT, do not REPLY but not because this is a troll (its not) but because by requesting you not to reply i prove logically and de facto that this is NOT a TROLL. The definition of a troll is that a tropller wants a reply or two. I want no replies I said my piece. Go write your own opinions elsewhere and wuit using your British Mod points to stiffle and censor american Free Speech.
Remember this!
0600. TS.
PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU SPEND THAT MOD POINT!
The above "supposed" link to PBS is infact a redirect to Goatse.cx and should be modded down. I only want the best for Slashdot so please listen moderators.
I think the longatude would be zero
William F. Libby (american) invented the atomic clock in 1948 and got nobel prize eventually in 1960. It was fought against by the ignorant for a short time.
This so called fued : British Astronomy vs British Mechanical Engineering is as silly as the Atomic Clock debates.
Britain should review why USA took tech lead 1800s and 1900s instead of endlessly glorifying this achievement.
Of the top 100 most vital inventions from 1850 to 1950 only one was a British and 99 were american inventions.
The one Brirish contribution was the Jet Engine, but they had to "give it away for free" to usa military as part of war debt so essentially it is american in a roundabout way.
Britain spends all its BBC documentary dollars reliving its conquest and Imperial domination empire years again and again.
Oh how british: a perfect clock to win a prize that Britain was unwilling to honor as the prize winner...
They should instead study how Americans patented and created the top 99 technological marvels of the years between 1850 and 1950 and quit being maudlin and nostalgic about the British Empire years.
They are a dying irrelevant kingdom of socialist welfare programs.
Oh thats right everything hostile on slashdot is automatically a troll eh? Well then do not COMMENT, do not REPLY but not because this is a troll (its not) but because by requesting you not to reply i prove logically and 'de facto' that this is NOT a TROLL. The definition of a troll is that a troller wants a reply or two. I want no replies I said my piece. Go write your own opinions elsewhere and wuit using your British Mod points to stifle and censor american Free Speech.
You speak of the context of history being imporatant to view the significance of present and past events.
I concur. But nobody wants to talk about it. For example Britain used to be a technology leader but became almost wholly dormant comapared to the rise of American feee enterprise in many technologies.
Britain should review why USA took tech lead 1800s and 1900s instead of endlessly glorifying this achievement.
Of the top 100 most vital inventions from 1850 to 1950 only one was a British and 99 were american inventions.
The one Brirish contribution was the Jet Engine, but they had to "give it away for free" to usa military as part of war debt so essentially it is american in a roundabout way.
Britain spends all its BBC documentary dollars reliving its conquest and Imperial domination empire years again and again.
Oh how british: a perfect clock to win a prize that Britain was unwilling to honor as the prize winner...
They should instead study how Americans patented and created the top 99 technological marvels of the years between 1850 and 1950 and quit being maudlin and nostalgic about the British Empire years.
They are a dying irrelevant kingdom of socialist welfare programs.
Oh thats right everything hostile on slashdot is automatically a troll eh? Well then do not COMMENT, do not REPLY but not because this is a troll (its not) but because by requesting you not to reply i prove logically and 'de facto' that this is NOT a TROLL. The definition of a troll is that a troller wants a reply or two. I want no replies I said my piece. Go write your own opinions elsewhere and quit using your British Mod points to stiffle and censor american Free Speech.