A brief history of innovation: In the beginning, there were lone inventors who changed the world. John Harrison was one of the most prominent – the clock-maker became famous and (eventually) rich in the 18th century by building a clock so accurate and so resilient in the face of changing temperatures and constant rocking that it could be taken on board a ship and used to calculate the ship's longitude. In doing so, Harrison pitted himself against the might of the Royal Observatory, which had been established in 1675 by King Charles II in order to solve the longitude problem with an astronomical method. The loner got there first.
以下是一部“創(chuàng)新簡史”：首先登場的是那些孤軍奮戰(zhàn)、并改變了世界的發(fā)明家，其中最杰出的一位是約翰?哈里森(John Harrison)。這位鐘表匠在18世紀(jì)名聲大噪，并且（最終）變得非常富有，原因是他制造了一臺時鐘，其走時是如此精確，在氣溫變化和長期搖晃的情況下是如此不受干擾，以至于人們可把它裝配在輪船上，用以計(jì)算船所在的經(jīng)度。哈里森也由此與有權(quán)有勢的英國皇家天文臺(Royal Observatory)展開了競爭。皇家天文臺是由查理二世(King Charles II)于1675年建立的，目的是用天文學(xué)方法解決經(jīng)度問題。孤軍奮戰(zhàn)的發(fā)明家率先拿出了答案。