Halley's Quest: A Selfless Genius and His Troubled Paramore
Books / Hardcover
Books › Science › Earth Sciences › Oceanography
ISBN: 0309095948 / Publisher: Joseph Henry Press, October 2005
Science writer Wakefield describes Edmond Halley's greatest achievement, which was not predicting th...
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Science writer Wakefield describes Edmond Halley's greatest achievement, which was not predicting the course of the comet that bears his name, but accurate navigation involving the determination of true v. magnetic north and thereby longitude. Already adept at "being there first" ahead of his academic competitors, he was literally "there first" in a small sailing craft loaded with his scientific ideas about how the earth worked and the sailors' animosity. Thus he nearly single-handedly succeeded at making British military and commercial shipping the most likely to "be there" at the right time, securing himself relatively little but making Britain the leading colonial power. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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