Jeremy Thacker
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Chronometer of Jeremy Thacker c. 1714.
Jeremy Thacker was an 18th-century writer and watchmaker, who coined the word "chronometer" for precise clocks designed to find longitude at sea.[1] He himself created a marine chronometer positioned on gimbals and within a vacuum, but it was a failure.[2] The idea of a vacuum for a marine clock had already been proposed by the Italian clockmaker Antonio Tempora in 1668.[1] Slightly later, John Harrison would successfully build marine chronometers from 1730.[2]
He wrote The Longitudes Examined in 1714.[3]
Hoax?
According to an article[4] published in the Times Literary Supplement in November 2008, "Thacker may never of existed and his proposal now emerges possibly as a hoax?".
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Encyclopedia of time Samuel L. Macey p.347
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Old Ironsides: eagle of the sea : the story of the USS Constitution David G. Fitz-Enz p.92 [1]
- ↑ The world of mathematics by James Roy Newman p.806
- ↑ Longitude forged by Pat Rogers
