Board of Longitude chronometers, keeping) the time of the reference place when one is far away from it. For details of the efforts towards determining the longitude, see History of longitude. For many decades a sufficiently accurate chronometer was prohibitively expensive. The lunar distance method was used by mariners either in conjunction with or instead of the marine chronometer. However, with the expectation that accurate clocks would eventually become commonplace, John Harrison showed that his method was the way of the future. However the board, to its discredit, never awarded the prize to Harrison, nor anyone else. With the significant problems considered as
How Many Miles to Babylon? (novel) How Many Miles to Babylon? (novel) How Many Miles to Babylon? is a novel by Irish writer Jennifer Johnston, first published in 1974. The novel explores the relationship of two men, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, Alexander Moore, and a lower class son of a labourer on his lands, Jerry, as they experience the First World War. The story is the complex tale of a friendship between two boys in Ireland prior to and during World War I. Alec, the son of Anglo-Irish parents grows up lonely and friendless on his parents' estate in Wicklow during the early years of the 20th