3 Matching Annotations
  1. Dec 2023
  2. Sep 2021
    1. Thus John Harrison, clock-maker and former carpenter of Barton-on-Humber (Lincs.), perfected a marine chronometer, and in 1730 could claim to have brought a Clock to go nearer the truth, than can be well imagin'd, considering the vast Number of seconds of Time there is in a Month, in which space of time it does not vary above one second . . I am sure I can bring it to the nicety of 2 or 3 seconds in a year.

      State of the art of timepieces in 1730.

      Could be interesting to see a graph of accuracy of timekeeping over time.

    2. clocks from the fourteenth century onwards, how far this was itself a symptom of a new Puritan discipline and bourgeois exac

      I do not wish to argue how far the change was due to the spread of clocks from the fourteenth century onwards, how far this was itself a symptom of a new Puritan discipline and bourgeois exactitude.

      For some history of the importance of time with relation to naval navigation and trade, see: Sobel, Dava (1995). Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. New York: Walker and Company.