The Board of Longitude 1714-1828: Science, innovation and empire in the Georgian world

拟议的项目将产生第一部英国经度委员会的综合历史，研究其作为格鲁吉亚文化中有影响力的参与者的不断变化的作用。作为剑桥大学历史与科学哲学系与国家海事博物馆（NMM）的合作项目，该项目还将为学术和更广泛的受众提供一系列产出，包括展览和展示、讲座和活动、出版物和网络资源。该项目研究将汇集两种独特的资源。剑桥大学图书馆经度委员会的论文为工业革命期间英国的独创性和发明提供了丰富但未被充分利用的证据。这些文件将与具有国际重要意义的文书和麻管局在国家监测所开展活动的其他物证一起进行研究。1714年的《经度法案》是英国历史上的一个转折点：政府第一次用立法来解决一个具体的科学问题。它为在海上确定经度的实用方法提供了2万英镑的奖金，并成立了一个经度委员会，由海事、科学、学术和商业网络的领导人组成，以判断索赔并鼓励发明。该委员会一直运作到19世纪，对创新、创造力以及国家和商业赞助系统产生了重大影响。然而，目前还没有对这一重要机构进行重大评估。我们的详细研究将解决有关格鲁吉亚科学和社会的基本问题，研究在工业进步和商业革命时期的发明文化和精确的概念。它的发现将有助于重新评估漫长的18世纪的历史。研究将集中在两个关键主题上：a)精度、赞助、仪器和国家。委员会作为一个半政府组织的新角色，鼓励创造力和创新，是国家干预科学和技术的早期实例。幸存的材料揭示了培养的创造力：不仅是成功的方案，还有那些被认为不切实际的方案。委员会的成员和活动使其处于广泛的政治、商业和科学网络中，确保了广泛的影响力。b)现场试验、导航、勘探和国际网络长距离海上试验需要创新的导航技术和技术。这使委员会同海军部和包括东印度公司在内的有影响力的贸易公司等机构联系起来。两种测量经度的方法在18世纪60年代被开发出来，然而委员会的工作一直持续到1828年，随着政治动荡和商业扩张时期的变化。该委员会本身在探索航行的组织中获得了影响力，特别是向太平洋扩张，寻找西北航道，以及绘制南半球的星星。历史和科学哲学系为开展该项目提供了理想的学术环境，而国家博物馆通过其藏品和工作人员的专业知识提供了重要的补充环境，并通过展览、临时展览和相关活动传播了项目发现的理想地点。这将包括在博物馆成功的学习计划中利用项目成果，为正式和非正式学习者提供活动，并通过相关出版物、媒体报道和网络资源为世界各地的用户提供更多访问博物馆藏品和研究的机会。

The proposed project will result in the first comprehensive history of the British Board of Longitude, examining its changing role as an influential player in Georgian culture. As a collaboration between the Deparment of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and the National Maritime Museum (NMM), the project will also have a range of outputs aimed at academic and broader audiences, including exhibitions and displays, talks and events, publications and web resources.The project research will bring together two unique resources. The Board of Longitude papers in Cambridge University Library offer rich but underused evidence of British ingenuity and invention during the industrial revolution. They will be researched alongside the internationally important collection of instruments and other material evidence of the Board's activities at the NMM. The 1714 Longitude Act was a turning point in British history: for the first time the government used legislation to address a specific scientific problem. It offered a £20,000 prize for a practical method of determining longitude at sea, and a Board of Longitude, including leaders of maritime, scientific, academic and commercial networks, was created to judge claims and encourage invention. The Board operated until the nineteenth century with major effects on innovation, creativity, and state and commercial patronage systems. Yet there has been no major assessment of this significant institution. Our detailed study will address fundamental questions about Georgian science and society, examining the culture of invention and the notion of precision during this period of industrial progress and commercial revolution. Its findings will help to reassess histories of the long eighteenth century.The research will concentrate on two key themes:a) Precision, patronage, instrumentation and the stateThe Board's novel role as a semi-governmental organisation encouraging creativity and innovation is an early instance of state intervention in science and technology. Surviving materials reveal the creativity fostered: not just successful schemes but also those considered impracticable. The Board's members and activities placed it within wide-ranging political, commercial and scientific networks, ensuring wide influence.b) Field trials, navigation, exploration and international networksInnovative navigational technologies and techniques needed long-distance sea trials. This linked the Board with such bodies as the Admiralty and influential trading corporations, including the East India Company. Two methods for finding longitude were developed by the 1760s, yet the Board's work continued until 1828, with a changing remit in a period of political upheaval and commercial expansion. The Board itself gained influence in the formation of voyages of exploration, notably expansion into the Pacific, the search for the Northwest Passage, and mapping stars in the southern hemisphere. While the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science provides the ideal academic context within which to carry out this project, the NMM provides both an important complementary context through its collections and staff expertise and an ideal location from which to disseminate the project findings through displays and temporary exhibitions and through related activities. These will include the exploitation of the project results within the Museum's successful learning programme, which offers activities for formal and informal learners, and enhancing access to the Museum's collections and research for users worldwide through related publications, media coverage and web resources.