Kelseyville >> In 1700 how did a ship at sea determine its exact longitude? The answer: it wasn’t possible. As a result, ships and cargo were too frequently destroyed by crashes into land. Many sailors lost their lives — 2,000 of them in an accident on the night of Oct. 22, 1707, exactly 309 years before the Saturday lecture at the Taylor Observatory as part of its Window to the Universe series.
The longitude measurement problem was a famous science challenge of the 1700s and early 1800s. In 1714 the British parliament offered a £20,000 prize for a workable solution — millions of dollars in today’s currency.
Would astronomy provide the answer as it did for latitude reckoning? Galileo, Newton and others thought so. Or was there a different answer? Schemes materialized in competition for the prize, some of them bizarre. One method involved subliminal communication between injured dogs. Tim Gill, of Kelseyville Unified School District, will describe the ultimate answer to the longitude problem in his discussion of this historic topic on Saturday.
The event will run from 7:15 to 11 p.m., with the lecture beginning at 8 p.m. Planetarium shows and telescope viewings will take place before and after the lecture, weather permitting.
Admission costs $5 for adults, and K-12 Lake County students are admitted at no charge. Donations to benefit Lake County science education are appreciated.
The Taylor Observatory is at the end of Oak Hills Lane in Kelseyville. Call (707) 262-4121 for additional information.
