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

拟议的项目将导致英国经度委员会第一次全面的历史，审查其作为格鲁吉亚文化中有影响力的参与者所扮演的角色的变化。作为剑桥大学历史与科学哲学系和国家海事博物馆(NMM)的合作项目，该项目还将有一系列针对学术和更广泛受众的成果，包括展览和展示、讲座和活动、出版物和网络资源。项目研究将汇集两个独特的资源。剑桥大学图书馆的经度委员会论文提供了丰富但未被充分利用的证据，证明了工业革命期间英国人的聪明才智和发明。这些资料将与国际上重要的文书和委员会在国家监测委员会的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：政府第一次利用立法来解决一个具体的科学问题。它为确定海上经度的一种实用方法提供了2万GB的奖金，并成立了一个经度委员会，成员包括海事、科学、学术和商业网络的领导人，以评判主张和鼓励发明。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制度产生了重大影响。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格鲁吉亚科学和社会的基本问题，考察在这一工业进步和商业革命时期的发明文化和精确度概念。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：a)精度、赞助、仪器和国家委员会作为一个鼓励创造力和创新的半政府组织的新角色，是国家干预科学技术的早期例子。幸存的材料揭示了培养出来的创造力：不仅是成功的计划，还有那些被认为不可行的计划。委员会的成员和活动使其处于广泛的政治、商业和科学网络范围内，确保了广泛的影响力。b)实地试验、导航、探索和国际网络，以及需要进行远距离海上试验的创新导航技术和技巧。这将董事会与海军部等机构和包括东印度公司在内的有影响力的贸易公司联系在一起。到了17世纪60年代，人们提出了两种确定经度的方法，但委员会的工作一直持续到1828年，在一个政治动荡和商业扩张的时期，委员会的职权范围发生了变化。该委员会本身在探索航程的形成方面获得了影响，特别是向太平洋的扩张，搜索西北航道，以及绘制南半球的恒星图。科学史和科学哲学系为开展这一项目提供了理想的学术背景，而NMM通过其收藏和工作人员的专业知识提供了一个重要的补充背景，也提供了一个通过展览和临时展览以及相关活动传播项目成果的理想场所。这些措施将包括在博物馆的成功学习方案中利用项目成果，该方案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加强世界各地用户获取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.