John Harrison

Who was John Harrison?

John Harrison was a self-educated English carpenter and later a clockmaker. He invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device in solving the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea, thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age of Sail. The problem was considered so intractable that the British Parliament offered a prize of £20,000 for the solution.

Harrison came 39th in the BBC's 2002 public poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.