INVENTOR

John Harrison

1693 - 1776

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John Harrison (3 April [O.S. 24 March] 1693 – 24 March 1776) was an English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of how to calculate longitude while at sea. Harrison's solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel. The problem he solved had been considered so important following the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 that the British Parliament was offering financial rewards of up to £20,000 (equivalent to £3.97 million in 2024) under the 1714 Longitude Act, though Harrison never received the full reward due to political rivalries. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of John Harrison has received more than 1,888,384 page views. His biography is available in 43 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 42 in 2019). John Harrison is the 104th most popular inventor (down from 87th in 2019), the 814th most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 676th in 2019) and the 17th most popular British Inventor.

John Harrison is most famous for inventing the marine chronometer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.9M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 61.11

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 43

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.79

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.22

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, John Harrison ranks 104 out of 426. Before him are Johann Maria Farina, Leo Fender, Momofuku Ando, Robert Noyce, Louis Le Prince, and Jacque Fresco. After him are Edmund Cartwright, Joseph Pilates, Johann Philipp Reis, Clément Ader, Abraham-Louis Breguet, and Gaston Glock.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1693, John Harrison ranks 4. Before him are Pope Clement XIII, Anna of Russia, and James Bradley. After him are Anne Sophie Reventlow, Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, Abul Khair Khan, Countess Palatine Elisabeth Auguste Sofie of Neuburg, Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Georg Rafael Donner, Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin, and John Lombe. Among people deceased in 1776, John Harrison ranks 3. Before him are David Hume, and Yeongjo of Joseon. After him are Natalia Alexeievna, Louis François, Prince of Conti, Sabah I bin Jaber, Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller, Jeanne Julie Éléonore de Lespinasse, Duchess Maria Anna Josepha of Bavaria, Johann Adolf Scheibe, John Ellis, and Giuseppe Asclepi.

Others Born in 1693

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Others Deceased in 1776

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, John Harrison ranks 814 out of 8,785. Before him are Robert Graves (1895), David Cameron (1966), Osborne Reynolds (1842), John Ray (1627), Tim Roth (1961), and Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (1158). After him are Edmund Cartwright (1743), Thomas Cole (1801), Eric Burdon (1941), John Berger (1926), Kim Cattrall (1956), and Dylan Thomas (1914).

Others born in United Kingdom

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Among INVENTORS In United Kingdom

Among inventors born in United Kingdom, John Harrison ranks 17. Before him are Henry Fox Talbot (1800), Thomas Savery (1650), Henry Bessemer (1813), James Hargreaves (1720), Richard Arkwright (1732), and William Webb Ellis (1806). After him are Edmund Cartwright (1743), Samuel Crompton (1753), W. O. Bentley (1888), John Kay (1704), Charles Algernon Parsons (1854), and Robert Stirling (1790).

British born Inventors

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