John Hadley John Hadley, a mathematician aged 49, presents a new instrument of navigation, the octant, also known as the reflecting...

Isaac Newton The Longitude Act is passed by   the Parliament ‘ for providing a Publick Reward for such Person or Persons as shall...

Edmund Halley Edmund Halley, an astronomer and polymath aged 30, presents at the Royal Society a map of the Trade Winds also known as...

The United Provinces and France have been at war for five years. They have been struggling for ruling the seas while the Royal Navy has...

Jean Picard, a priest, an astronomer and a geodesist, aged 49, has measured an arc of meridian between Paris and Amiens, hence the radius...