John Harrison (nonfiction)

P.L. Tassaert's half-tone print of Thomas King's original 1767 portrait of John Harrison, located at the Science and Society Picture Library, London.

John Harrison (3 April [O.S. 24 March] 1693 – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented a marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea.

His solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel.

The problem he solved was considered so important following the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 that the British Parliament offered financial rewards of up to £20,000 (equivalent to £2.84 million today) under the 1714 Longitude Act.

Harrison came 39th in the BBC's 2002 public poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Chronometer (nonfiction)
• Scilly naval disaster of 1707 (nonfiction)

External links:

• John Harrison @ Wikipedia