Navigation: A Very Short Introduction

Description

Looking at the long history of navigation at sea, Jim Bennett discusses the scientific and technological developments that have enabled the accurate measurement of position and setting of directions in the oceans.

• Covers all the major navigational cultures in history, discussing the methods used in navigation across the years
• Introduces the instruments used for navigation, from astrolabes and compasses to modern satellite equipment
• Shows how the science of navigation was driven by commercial aspirations, and shaped by practical and political factors as well as intellectual ones
• Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over seven million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Jim Bennett, Keeper Emeritus, Science Museum, London

Jim Bennett is a historian of science who has held curatorial posts in national museums in London and in university museums in Cambridge and Oxford, where he was Director of the Museum of the History of Science. He has been President of the British Society for the History of Science and of the Scientific Instrument Commission of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science. He is currently President of the Hakluyt Society. His books include The Divided Circle: a History of Instruments for Astronomy, Navigation, and Surveying (Phaidon-Christie's, 1987), and London's Leonardo: the life and work of Robert Hooke (OUP, 2003), with Michael Cooper, Michael Hunter, and Lisa Jardine.

Table of Contents

1:Early navigational cultures
2:Medieval and Renaissance learning and practice
3:A mathematical science
4:Dead reckoning, longitude and time
5:The zenith of the mathematical seamen
6:The electronic age
Further Reading
Index

Reviews

"This book covers all the major developments in navigation adequately, and in a manner easily accessible to the general public. It is not the result of new research or insight, and does not have that pretention. I recommend it to those with an interest in the history of navigation, and it will be an excellent starting-point for those wanting to pursue the subject further." - W.F.J. Mörzer Bruyns, The International Journal of Maritime History

"Provides a fascinating insight into how people have navigated on the sea for hundreds of years." - Adventure Travel

"This elegant and compelling narrative, spanning all periods, cultures, and geographical regions, provides a remarkably accessible introduction to the concepts and technology of navigation." - Captain M. K. Barritt Royal Navy, former Hydrographer of the Navy

"A masterly and comprehensive survey of navigational techniques across many centuries of technical skill and astute practical innovation. The book combines lucid exposition of the principal maritime methods with fascinating commentary on the historical relation between navigators' mastery of calculation, observation and improvisation." - Simon Schaffer, University of Cambridge