Earth's Magnetism in the Age of Sail

Erscheinungsjahr 2003
ISBN: 978-0-8018-7132-0
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 320 Seiten, Format (B × H): 164 mm x 232 mm, Gewicht: 562 g

From about 1600 to 1800 scientists and mariners made increasingly sophisticated attempts to understand the earth's magnetic field and use it in navigation. Europeans had long understood the difference between magnetic and true north, but why did it vary as one traversed the sea? Could this variation be used to pinpoint longitude? Drawing on a wealth of unpublished sources—including manuals, treatises, sailing directions, and logbooks in a half-dozen languages—A. R. T. Jonkers explores these early efforts both for what they reveal about the history of science and navigation and as a unique record of the actual changes in the earth's magnetic field. The result, a masterful combination of science and history, will appeal to a broad audience of specialists as well as general readers.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Jonkers, A R T

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Geschichte der Schifffahrt
• Geowissenschaften Geologie Geologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Note on Spelling and Other Conventions
List of Abbreviations
Introduction. Merging Geomagnetism and History
Part I. Earth's Magnetism
Chapter 1. The Earth's Magnetic Field
Chapter 2. The Age of Diversity: Geomagnetism before 1600
Chapter 3. The Age of Discord: Geomagnetism in the Seventeenth Century
Chapter 4. The Age of Data: Geomagnetism in the Eighteenth Century
Part II. In the Age of Sail
Chapter 5. Traversing the Trackless Oceans
Chapter 6. Following in Iron Arrow
Chapter 7. Plotting the Third CoordinateConclusion: Quantifying Geomagnetic Navigation
Appendix
Chronology of Geomagnetic Hypotheses
Notes
Essay on Sources
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jonkers, A R T
A. R. T. Jonkers is University Fellow in the department of earth sciences at the University of Liverpool.