Smithsonian
  • Navigating
    at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigating Without a Clock
    • The Longitude Problem
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating
    in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
    • Navigation at War
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating
    in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation
    for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition

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Time and Navigation Home
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Time and Navigation
The untold story of getting from here to there.
Home

Search form

  • Navigating at Sea
  • Navigating in the Air
  • Navigating in Space
  • Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research Journal
  • Visit the Exhibition
  • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigation Gone Wrong: A British Fleet is Lost at Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating Without a Clock
    • Early Voyages
    • Dead Reckoning
    • Celestial Navigation
  • The Longitude Problem
    • Cash for Creativity
    • Early Sea Clock Experiments
    • Innovations in England
    • Innovations in France
    • The Chronometer
    • Observing the Skies
    • Navigation Gone Wrong: Wreck of the Arniston
  • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Early Contributions
      • Meet the Clockmaker: William Cranch Bond
      • Meet the Navigator: Eleanor Creesy
    • Wilkes Expedition
      • Meet the Mapmaker: Charles Wilkes
      • Maps and Charts
      • The "Scientifics"
  • Navigate at Sea! Activity

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Arniston Wreck Site »
Galileo Galilei  »
Chart showing Nova Scotia to Cape Cod »
Octant »
Lizards »

Cash for Creativity

European governments offered huge prizes to inspire a solution to the longitude problem.

Finding longitude at sea became urgent when European states competed for overseas empires and maritime trade.

Starting in the late 1500s, Europe’s major seafaring nations—Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Venetian Republic, England, and France—offered vast sums of money to anyone who could solve the longitude problem. These prizes stimulated an inventive outpouring from both the greatest scientific minds and the humblest tinkerers.

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"Dutch vessels burning the English fleet"
Jan van Leyden, "Dutch vessels destroying the English fleet near Chatham, England," painted 1670.
Credit: By Permission of the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam

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Longitude Act of 1714
This act authorized prizes—up to £20,000—for solving the longitude problem.
Credit: Library of Congress

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"Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast," 1667
This painting by Ludolf Backhuysen depicts three Dutch cargo ships.
Credit: Ludolf Backhuysen, Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington
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  • Navigating at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigating Without a Clock
    • The Longitude Problem
      • Cash for Creativity
      • Early Sea Clock Experiments
      • Innovations in England
      • Innovations in France
      • The Chronometer
      • Observing the Skies
      • Navigation Gone Wrong: Wreck of the Arniston
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
    • Navigation at War
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition
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  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Sponsors
  • Press
  • Donate
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