Longitude

Synopsis

"In the 18th century, the British Parliament offers a substantial sum to anyone who can devise a means for calculating longitude at sea. Soon clockmaker John Harrison (Michael Gambon) begins experiments to build an accurate timepiece unaffected by sea travel. In a parallel story, a retired World War I naval officer (Jeremy Irons) attempts to locate and restore Harrison's clocks. The two men's struggles are linked across a span of 200 years." [Netflix] "The problem he solved was considered so important following the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 that the British Parliament offered financial rewards of up to £20,000 (equivalent to £3.09 million in 2019) under the 1714 Longitude Act. [Wikipedia] The naval officer (Jeremy Irons) says it in a speech on BBC at the end of the movie that man's greatest glory is to make a contribution to the current needs of mankind. These artists, musicians, scientists and other inventors use their minds to see what others have not yet seen, and this is what John Harrison did.

Genre

Historical

Released

2000

Location

British Isles

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