John Harrison
1731
Since ancient times, astronomers have known the position of the equator by observing the movement of the sun, moon, and planets, and from this, astronomers and sailors have been able to accurately gauge latitude. To know one's longitude on a ship, however, one must have an accurate knowledge of time; one must know the time on board ship and the time at some other fixed location, such as one's home port, and be able to calculate the difference between them. It is easy enough to determine one's time on a ship, based on the angle of the sun. However, up until the 18th century there were no clocks accurate enough to keep time reliably at sea. This "longitude problem" was a huge dilemma for shipping and lead to many incidents of ships running aground and sinking. Spain, the Netherlands, various Italian city-states, and England all offered monetary prizes at one time or another to the person who could develop an accurate means of determining longitude at sea. For years, scientists tried to solve the problem with astronomy, but in 1731 it was solved by an English clockmaker named John Harrison. He developed an almost friction-free clock that needed no pendulum or lubrication, and did not rust. Sailors finally had a reliable way to keep track of time at sea.
Our Thoughts...
When we get too invested in an idea it can sometimes lead us away from the solution. This phenomena, called "lock-in," can be influenced by group think--when
lots of people think the same way to avoid conflict (know any corporate
cultures that do this?) Harrison, who looked at the problem from his
own perspective as a clockmaker, wasn't locked in to an astronomical
solution.
We can escape the gravitational force of lock-in by viewing systems of ideas from totally new perspectives. ThinkBlocks helps us to visualize and manipulate perspectives by assigning a distinction to a block (by writing on it or affixing a tile) and looking into its reflective surface to see other blocks from a different point of view.
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