Page 24 - BBC History The Story of Science & Technology - 2017 UK

Science Stories

NAVIGATION

1750

Gowin Knight

revolutionises

the navigational

compass

Gowin Knight
pioneered accurate
compasses with slender steel
needles, like this one from c1776

eing a great inventor does not always Four years later, Knight was asked to losopher researching in his London study,
Bmean having a generous nature. examine a compass that had been damaged Knight had focused on extreme precision,
Gowin Knight (1713–72) won huge during a lightning storm at sea. Horrified to and his readings were accurate to under a
acclaim at the Royal Society for his discover that its cracked casing was fastened degree. In contrast, mariners at sea were
magnets and compasses, but as the first with iron nails, and that the needle was a soft more concerned to verify their general
director of the British Museum, he iron wire bent into a crude lozenge and taped direction, and they complained that
antagonised all his curators by walling up beneath a heavy cardboard circle, Knight Knight’s sensitive needle spun round and
the corridor to the toilet. determined to revolutionise compass design. round in stormy weather. When James
Short-tempered, reclusive and mean, After extensive tests, he produced a model Cook lost his favourite but old-fashioned
Knight was notoriously secretive, which made of fine brass, with a slender steel needle compass overboard, he demanded an
contradicted the scientific ideology that balanced on a sharp point. identical replacement, rejecting newer
research should benefit the world, not the Thanks to some nifty social network- versions because, “Doctor Knights
individual. Yet reliable navigation was ing through contacts at the Royal Society, Stearing Compas’s from their quick mo-
vital for British shipping, and the Royal Knight managed to convince key naval tion are found to be of very little use on
Society awarded Knight its prestigious officials that his expensive compasses were Board small Vessels at sea”.
Copley Medal for his contributions to a worthwhile investment. Soon they were In retrospect, Knight’s most significant
national trade and empire. standard issue for all ships embarking on achievement was to build a scientific
The excitement had started in 1745. international voyages, and naval historians career. An adept social climber, he started
“Hither to I have wrote only to blot now celebrate him as the founder of low and finished high, succeeding be-
paper,” gushed an American merchant scientific navigation. cause he knew how to market himself and
based in London, “but now I tell you some However, technical sophistication can the instruments he produced.
thing new Docr night a Physition has have drawbacks, and the initial enthusiasm Knight is an outstanding example
found the Art of Giveing Such a magnetic soon turned to despair. As a natural phi- of those Enlightenment experimental
power to Steel that the poor old Loadstone entrepreneurs who, fired by hardship as
is putt quite out of Countenance.” well as enthusiasm, supported themselves
Knight was a medical student at Oxford Soon Knight’s through teaching, writing, inventing and
when he first started experimenting with lecturing. Collectively, they made science
loadstone, a naturally occurring magnetic compasses were respectable. At the beginning of the 18th
iron ore that varies greatly in quality century, natural philosophers and inven-
and tends to lose its strength over time. standard issue for all tors were figures of fun, mocked as bum-
Although he never revealed his precise ships embarking on bling virtuosi and impractical projectors.
techniques, Knight took advantage of A hundred years later, no young man or NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
improvements in steel manufacture international voyages woman could call themselves educated
to produce powerful, permanent unless they knew some science.
magnetic bars. Words: Patricia Fara

24 The Story of Science & Technology