Abstract

Simon Schaffer (University of Cambridge), Richard Dunn (Science Museum, London), Alexi Baker (Yale Peabody Museum), Rebekah Higgitt (National Museums Scotland), Sophie Waring (Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret, London)

The Board of Longitude was one of Georgian Britain’s most important scientific institutions. The Board developed in the eighteenth century after legislation that offered major rewards for methods to determine longitude at sea: the enterprise came to support the work of navigators, instrument-makers, clockmakers and surveyors, as well as a host of other artisans and schemers. Its activities also included computation and publication of the Nautical Almanac and establishment of the astronomical observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. This new book, published by Cambridge University Press, uses the rich archives of the Board, now available online, to shed new light on colonial and exploratory projects in the Pacific and the Arctic, as well as tracing the projects of practitioners often lost to history. A round-table discussion involves the authors of the book and offers the opportunity for discussion of the significance of these histories during a period of major industrial, imperial and technological development.