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Subject: Re: 1888 Bowditch Pages on Lunars now online
From: Brian Whatcott (inet@XXX.XXX)
Date: Fri Jan 25 2002 - 22:13:30 EST
At 07:03 PM 1/25/02, Dan Allen wrote:
>
><<http://home.attbi.com/~danallen46/Lunar.htm>http://home.attbi.com/~danallen46/Lunar.
>
>
>has 11 pages from a personal copy of Nathaniel Bowditch's 1888 version of
>"American Practical Navigator". (Well, the Navy actually had changed most
>of his original work by this time, but you get the drift...)
>
>The 11 scanned pages are 2.2 MB in size total.
>
>Enjoy!
>
>Dan Allen
In the same vein, here are some notes on his predecessors' efforts.
From
<http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Regiomontanus.html>
"Regiomontanus's interest in the motion of the Moon led him to make the
important observation that the method of lunar distances could be used to
determine longitude at sea. It was many years, however, before the position
of the Moon could be predicted with sufficient accuracy to make the method
practical and instruments constructed to give the lunar position with the
high degree of accuracy necessary for the method. Regiomontanus describes
how the position of the Moon can be used to determine longitude in the
ephemerides for the years 1474-1506 which he published. "
In 1773, a journal entry of Cook's:
"Such are the improvements Navigation has received from Astronomers of this
Age, by the Valuable Table they have communicated to the Publick under the
direction of the Board of Longitude contained in the Astronomical Ephemeris
and the Tables for correcting the Apparent Distance of the Moon and a Star
from the effects of Refraction and Parallax . . . Much Credet is also due
to the Mathematical Instrument makers for the improvements and accuracy
with which they make their Instruments, for without good Instruments the
Tables would loose part of their use."
Brian Whatcott
Altus OK Eureka!
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