…of great technologists or entrepreneurs whose work solves critical problems, often while battling against great adversity. Despite our obsession with our current high tech culture, not all such stories come from this decade — or even this century.

I just finished watching the first part of a two part A&E series called Longitude based on Dava Sobel’s best seller which I had read a few years ago, but apparently forgotten until I saw the title on Netflix. The Wikipedia sets up the story in this way…

“Determining longitude on land was fairly easy compared to the task at sea. A stable surface to work from, a comfortable location to live in while performing the work and the ability to repeat determinations over time made for great accuracy. Whatever could be discovered from solving the problem at sea would only improve the determination of longitude on land.

Determining latitude was relatively easy in that it could be found from the altitude of the sun at noon with the aid of a table giving the sun’s declination for the day.[3] For longitude, early ocean navigators had to rely on dead reckoning. This was inaccurate on long voyages out of sight of land and these voyages sometimes ended in tragedy as a result. Continue reading “I’m continually in awe…” →