Joseph Kerski
speaker
638 appearances
3 recordings
1 series
first heard Jun 2026
last heard 1 Aug
Joseph Kerski’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
Appearances
The problem he solved had been considered so important following the skilly British naval disaster of 1707, where many lives and ships were lost.
because they didn't know their actual longitude when they were off of the English coast, that the British Parliament was offering financial rewards of up to £20,000, equivalent to £3.97 million in 2023, under the 1714 Longitude Act.
In a classic tale of the common person triumphing,
Harrison never received the full reward due to the fact that he was thought of as a lowly clockmaker by the establishment of the time.
The established scientists thought they could solve the problem of longitude by more sophisticated means, such as astronomy.
Harrison presented his first design in 1730 and worked doggedly over many years on improved designs, making several advances in timekeeping technology, finally turning to what were called sea watches.
Harrison gained support from the Longitude Board in building and testing his designs.
Toward the end of his life, he received, finally, recognition and a reward from Parliament.
As a vindication of his work, his clocks are actually today displayed in the Royal Observatory in London, or Greenwich, and improve the ability of humankind to determine their longitude and therefore their position at sea.
It's very interesting when you go to that display, you see that the first
Longitude clock was about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle.
The second one was about the size of a suitcase.
And the third one is about the size of a wedding cake.
Fascinating.
So they got smaller, just like many technology pieces in our modern era.
They got smaller as he progressed.
This led to an improvement in the accuracy of maps.
Shipwrecks were averted and lives saved.
And the science of geography...
greatly advanced.
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