{"id":36993,"date":"2025-09-19T14:48:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T12:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meremuuseum.ee\/?post_type=event&p=36993"},"modified":"2025-09-19T14:51:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T12:51:18","slug":"public-talk-how-navigation-at-sea-did-and-didnt-change-after-the-longitude-problem-was-solved","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/meremuuseum.ee\/en\/blog\/event\/public-talk-how-navigation-at-sea-did-and-didnt-change-after-the-longitude-problem-was-solved\/","title":{"rendered":"PUBLIC TALK: How navigation at sea did (and didn\u2019t) change after the longitude problem was \u2018solved\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

05.11 | 6 PM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seaplane Harbour<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While ultimately relating to a seafaring problem \u2013 fixing a ship\u2019s east-west position when far from land \u2013 the story of how the longitude problem was \u2018solved\u2019 in the eighteenth has often been told from the point of view of those sat safely on dry land. This talk will look instead at what difference the introduction of new methods really made to those for whom it mattered, the crews of ships sailing the world\u2019s oceans. Drawing on examples from a range of voyages \u2013 trading, exploratory and naval \u2013 from the early eighteenth to the nineteenth centuries, it will try to make sense of what really happened at sea, from routine and successful navigation to mishap and disaster. This reveals a more complex picture of the ways in which practice did and didn\u2019t change that in turn throws up questions for traditional accounts of the story. What it reveals is that what mattered most was where you were and why. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Dunn is Keeper of Technologies and Engineering at the Science Museum, London. He previously worked as Curator of the History of Navigation and then Senior Curator for the History of Science at Royal Museums Greenwich. His publications include Finding Longitude\u00a0(2014, with Rebekah Higgitt), Navigational Instruments\u00a0(2016) and The Board of Longitude: Science, Innovation and Empire\u00a0(2025, with Alexi Baker, Rebekah Higgitt, Simon Schaffer and Sophie Waring).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The public talk is part of the international research conference “Revisiting European Maritime Exploration in the Pacific Ocean (c. 1750\u20131850)”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"template":"","event_category":[],"class_list":["post-36993","event","type-event","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPUBLIC TALK: How navigation at sea did (and didn\u2019t) change after the longitude problem was \u2018solved\u2019 - Meremuuseum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/meremuuseum.ee\/en\/blog\/event\/public-talk-how-navigation-at-sea-did-and-didnt-change-after-the-longitude-problem-was-solved\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PUBLIC TALK: How navigation at sea did (and didn\u2019t) change after the longitude problem was \u2018solved\u2019 - 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