Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
2024 James Arthur Lecture
This presentation looks at John Harrison’s lifelong work to solve the longitude problem by creating precision timekeepers. His story captivated NAWCC members at the 1993 Longitude Symposium at Harvard University, where Dava Sobel covered the event for Harvard Magazine. Her article led a New York publisher to encourage her to expand the topic into a book. Longitude became a bestseller in several countries and inspired a Nova documentary, a TV movie starring Michael Gambon and Jeremy Irons, a stage play by Sir Arnold Wesker, and a permanent tribute to Harrison in Westminster Abbey unveiled in 2006 by Prince Philip. Research on Harrison’s horology continues today and supports claims that many once thought unbelievable.
Dava Sobel is the author of Longitude, Galileo’s Daughter, The Planets, and The Elements of Marie Curie. She is a former science reporter for The New York Times, writes the “Meter” column for Scientific American, and has written for magazines including The New Yorker. She has also taught science writing at the University of Chicago and Smith College. Her interest in time began in a chronophysiology laboratory at Montefiore Hospital, where she spent 25 days as a study subject without access to a clock, later leading her to Harrison and the history of precision timekeeping.
Ward Francillon Time Symposium
October 21-24, 2024
Sturbridge, MA
2024 James Arthur Lecture
This presentation looks at John Harrison’s lifelong work to solve the longitude problem by creating precision timekeepers. His story captivated NAWCC members at the 1993 Longitude Symposium at Harvard University, where Dava Sobel covered the event for Harvard Magazine. Her article led a New York publisher to encourage her to expand the topic into a book. Longitude became a bestseller in several countries and inspired a Nova documentary, a TV movie starring Michael Gambon and Jeremy Irons, a stage play by Sir Arnold Wesker, and a permanent tribute to Harrison in Westminster Abbey unveiled in 2006 by Prince Philip. Research on Harrison’s horology continues today and supports claims that many once thought unbelievable.
Dava Sobel is the author of Longitude, Galileo’s Daughter, The Planets, and The Elements of Marie Curie. She is a former science reporter for The New York Times, writes the “Meter” column for Scientific American, and has written for magazines including The New Yorker. She has also taught science writing at the University of Chicago and Smith College. Her interest in time began in a chronophysiology laboratory at Montefiore Hospital, where she spent 25 days as a study subject without access to a clock, later leading her to Harrison and the history of precision timekeeping.
Ward Francillon Time Symposium
October 21-24, 2024
Sturbridge, MA
