Navigating the Globe: Episode 4

Our ability to accurately keep time and triangulate location with just the touch of a button stands on the shoulders of our ancestor’s inventions. These two elements, crucial for successful navigation, have been refined over centuries, altering the landscape of travel and exploration forever. This episode dives into those pioneering breakthroughs from across the globe; from the astrolabe and sextant, to the use of lenses in lighthouses and telescopes, the invention of compasses and maps and the automatisation of timekeeping.  At first rudimentary and inaccurate, the tools to measure longitude, latitude, time and direction have evolved to become precise instruments capable of navigating the most treacherous seas. Modern navigation now relies on technology our ancestors couldn’t have imagined.