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Thank you, Professor Richard Brill, for your enlightening column on latitude and its importance to maritime navigation (“Latitude helps determine how we see sunrise, sunset,” Star-Advertiser, Facts of the Matter, Jan. 19). I would like to add that the chronometer that John Harrison first presented in 1730 — and for which was awarded a 20,000-pound prize (worth an estimated 4 million pounds today) — did not keep particularly accurate time. What was different with Harrison’s device was that the amount of error that it accumulated daily was known and fixed over a broad range of temperature and sea conditions. With that known error, it revolutionized maritime navigation.
A profound book on the subject for extra credit is “Longitude” by Dava Sobel, a delightful read about the many prior attempts and failures at solving the elusive problem of determining longitude.
Kevin Connelly
Kahala
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