author
John Harrison
1693–1776
Best known for solving one of the 18th century’s biggest navigational problems, this English clockmaker created the marine chronometer that made it possible to determine longitude at sea. His patient, decades-long work changed seafaring and helped make long-distance travel far safer.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Yorkshire in 1693, John Harrison began as a carpenter and taught himself much of his clockmaking. He became famous for pursuing a problem that had stumped sailors and scientists alike: how to tell a ship’s east-west position accurately while far from land.
Harrison’s answer was not a new map or a new theory, but a clock precise enough to keep reliable time at sea. Over many years he designed a series of increasingly sophisticated timekeepers, and his work led to the first practical marine chronometer. That breakthrough gave navigators a dependable way to calculate longitude and had an enormous effect on navigation, trade, and exploration.
He died in London in 1776, but his reputation only grew. Today he is remembered not just as a brilliant inventor, but as a stubborn and inventive problem-solver whose craftsmanship changed the history of navigation.