Harrison's 250th Anniversary This year, Monday 24th March sees the start of the countdown for the 250th anniversary year of clockmaker John Harrison’s death in 1776. Given the massive contribution to history made by the carpenter and self-taught clockmaker, expect to see several events around the globe commemorating this legendary inventor. Harrison is best known for solving the problem of longitude, which involved producing a series of high precision longcase clocks in the 1720s, achieving consistent accuracy of one second in a month, far better than any other contemporary timekeepers. To solve the problem of determining longitude at sea, John Harrison aimed to devise a portable clock which kept time to within three seconds a day. This would make it far more accurate than even the best watches of the time. He was born in Foulby, West Riding, Yorkshire, then lived in Barrow upon Humber from childhood. He later moved to London looking for both support and the rewards promised by the 1714 Longitude Act. In the capital, Harrison first met with Edmond Halley, the second Astronomer Royal and a Commissioner of Longitude. He was received warmly at Greenwich, but Halley felt unable to judge his work. Instead, he sent him to clockmaker George Graham. The rest is history and you can discover more about the clockmaker and his wooden regulator dated 1726 on the Clocktime digital museum. Also, enjoy the 12-minute video where Dr Taylor explains the details of this ground-breaking historical timekeeper, which celebrates its 300th birthday in 2026. Interestingly, it was produced when John Harrison was just 33 years old, a full 50 years before his passing. The regulator includes an Equation of Time table telling the difference between Greenwich Mean Time and a sundial. When calibrated, it became the most accurate clock in the world for 150 years.
