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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What advantage did the magnetic variation method have over astronomical approaches at determining longitude?

2. How many sailors died near the Scilly Islands?

3. What was the tool introduced by John Davis in 1595 to better look at the sun called?

4. Which of the following was NOT an early player in the quest for the longitude prize?

5. What did King Louis build in Paris?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe John Harrison.

2. What was the main problem with the "lunar-distance" method?

3. In Chapter 2: The Sea Before Time, what happened to Sir Clowdisley's voyage?

4. Who were the early players in the longitude prize described in Chapter 6: The Prize. What role did they play?

5. What did Huygens patent in 1675.

6. Why is the story of Sir Clowdisley included in Chapter 2: The Sea Before Time?

7. What did the Longitude Act establish?

8. What was the Longitude Act of 1714?

9. In 1740, the Centurion set sail for the South Pacific without Harrison's clock. What might have been different about the voyage if they would have taken the clock? Why?

10. What was the result of the Whiston-Ditton proposal?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Complete a historical analysis of John Harrison. How would you describe him? What qualities did he posses that helped him to be successful?

Essay Topic 2

We learn in Longitude the struggles that astronomers had gone through in developing a solution to the longitude problem and they would not allow all their work to be shown unnecessary. Sobel is able to come to allow the reader to come to this conclusion through the use of objective and subjective details. According to the Royal Academy of Astronomers, why was Harrison not "worthy" to solve the problem of longitude? How do you know this? Through objective or subjective details?

Essay Topic 3

The hero of "Longitude" is John Harrison. In an essay, outline his major accomplishments in relation to the longitude problem. Did his background help or hurt him? What controversies did he have to endure?

(see the answer keys)

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