My wife and I both read Dava Sobel’s wonderful book Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time (very highly recommended, by the way) and so we had to visit Greenwich, England, while visiting London. The public transit system made this quick and easy.
The longitude problem in question was solved by John Harrison’s construction of exactingly accurate clocks – the forerunners of marine chronometers, which are displayed at the site. We weren’t supposed to take photos inside the museum, but I did. I couldn’t help it. Here’s my wife Cari posing with H1, Harrison’s first clock. It has a wonderfully mesmerizing mechanism that I stared at for some time…
A main tourist attraction at Greenwich is finding the Prime Meridian line running through the grounds and having one’s photo taken there – so of course, we did. My wife at the door, the meridian sign (which we have as a fridge magnet), Greenwich clock. I got to press the button to light the laser that shoots along the meridian at night and even got a certificate – nerd heaven for me! The meridian line is also extended in the ground behind the building where nobody looks to find it, indeed, we walked over it without knowing what it was. I also took this photo for the Suburbs Internationale article I started years ago: zero degrees longitude, the international dividing line between East and West, black and white, yin and tang – and Western Suburbs Rugby is there!
As it turns out, there are three meridians at Greenwich, but only one of them is the accepted worldwide one. The other two were historical curiosities. Here’s Edmond Halley’s. (Yes, Halley of the comet fame. Not surprisingly, there is a comet weathervane atop one of the buildings, undoubtedly referring to Halley.)
It’s funny that the locals seem to be so proud of the fact that the Prime Meridian was centered on a site in England (the French proposed one that ran through Paris, but it didn’t catch on). The Prime Meridian of the World – Hail, Britannia!
While at Greenwich we also visited the Greenwich Queen’s House, which has many fine portrait paintings.
Greenwich also has a pedestrian tunnel that allows you to cross the Thames underneath it – so we did that, too. Once again, no flash photography (why on earth not?) but I took one anyway – the Ugly American.
All in all, an excellent few hours spent at Greenwich, England!