I like knowing that people like John Harrison lived. It gives me hope for after the current morass. John Harrison (1693-1776) developed the first marine chronometer. Such are important navigation instruments because they can reveal longitude. In the early 1700s this was so important that the British Admiralty offered a significant cash prize for the first clock, rugged enough for shipboard use, that would provide a location at sea. The best of the then current shipboard clocks, made by George Graham, were generally accurate to 1 second / day, about the accuracy of a modern quartz watch. The Admiralty wanted something more. John Harrison proclaimed that he could make a clock that was accurate to within 1 second in a month. And he drew plans for a pendulum clock accurate to within 1 second / 100 days. A clock was recently built, largely of wood, from Harrison’s plans.
More here:
https://quillandpad.com/2021/03/06/b...meter-reprise/