In 1714, the UK government’s Longitude Act offered £20,000 to whoever could solve the challenge of working out how far east or west ships at sea were.
This required knowing the time on board as well as back at home – each four-minute time difference means one degree of longitude, external.
The ship’s time could be set using the height of the Sun each day – but the ocean waves and the humidity would disrupt the delicate mechanisms in the clock trying to keep time back in port.
Harrison, a self-taught clockmaker from Yorkshire, solved the problem but then battled the establishment for years to be deemed the winner.
The latest Longitude Prize was run by Challenge Works, a part of the innovation agency Nesta.
“When there is a challenge of gargantuan proportions in desperate need of real-world solutions, prizes attract the brightest minds to solve the problem,” Challenge Works managing director Tris Dyson said.
Another Longitude Prize, worth £4.4m, has now been announced, external – to help people in the earliest stages of dementia live independently.
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