Navigation: from Galileo (1564) to Galileo (2014), by Jeremy Batch
Birds do it, bees do it, even educated salmon do it – and all with a precision that we have only just begun to match. The contributions to navigation made by Galileo and John Harrison are well-known, and the work of Michael Faraday and Elmer Sperry can at least be guessed. But what about Igor Sikorsky, Arthur C. Clarke and Albert Einstein? Why did the Dutch East India Company ban the back-staff from their ships? How did Deptford Sailing Club come to be in charge of pilotage and buoyage? Why red and green, which many of us can’t distinguish? How did the USS Skate find Ice Station Alpha, when the “station” had no idea where it was? Which prehistoric device played a vital part in the moon landings? Why did the astronauts come back younger than if they’d stayed at home, and how does this affect GPS and Galileo? All this and more will be revealed in Jeremy’s inimitable style.
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