Stars

20th Jan 2025

Celebrity culture undervalues the contributions of many.

I recently visited the Greenwich Royal Observatory, and it was a fascinating experience. The highlight for me was the audio tour about the invention of marine clocks for maritime navigation.

On a clear night, stars serve as a celestial GPS for sailors. However, the earth’s rotation complicates things. Sailors couldn’t tell if their position changes were due to their movement, or the earth’s spin. Astronomers realized that with an accurate clock, they could calculate the earth’s rotation (a consistent 360 degrees every 24 hours) and thus determine their location. But the clock needed to be extremely precise. Even minor timing errors (seconds per day) could lead to significant location errors (tens of miles). The timekeeping devices of that era couldn’t achieve the necessary accuracy in naval conditions.

Following a naval disaster, the British Parliament offered a bounty of £20,000 (£4 million in 2025) to anyone who could solve this problem. John Harrison, a carpenter and clockmaker, rose to the challenge, creating four marine clocks, each more advanced than the last. With the Longitude Board’s support for building and testing his designs, and his son’s participation in sea trials, the fourth clock finally met the stringent requirements to win the prize (after much persuasion, and only a partial award).

After the exhibition, the narrative focused solely on John Harrison as a genius. That he is one of the top 100 Greatest Britons. This felt odd to me. Did we hear the same story? I heard about many contributors: the astronomers for their celestial research, the British Parliament for offering the bounty, John Harrison for his clock designs, the Longitude Board and John’s son for building and testing, and John’s wife for managing other aspects of his life.

This is why I’ve always felt uneasy about celebrity culture in the news, politics, business, academia, and carved in marble statues. We hear a lot about individuals. It’s so unintuitive to me for that to be the focus. It’s a simplification that aids understanding, sure, but it promotes the idea that those in the spotlight are superior to those who aren’t. And I believe it’s harmful. This mindset leads to the creation of figures like Trump.

John’s marine clocks are remarkable. But the story of their invention is so much more.